Folk & WorldMetal
Ensemble Tikoro release “Tortoise” on Friday 23 October through Jangjang Records, on cassette and digitally. They are a vocal choir from West Java, Indonesia, mixing extreme metal vocal technique with overtone singing and traditional Sundanese instruments, and they are five singers: Arum Dwi Hanantoro, Ardyansyah, Handriansyah Nugraha, Mahatma Adi Hartoko and Robi Rusdiana, who founded the group in 2012.
“Tortoise” is a work in three parts, and the album holds the second and the third; the first is not on it. The second is seven pieces, one for each of the seven chakras.
“The piece runs through a range of sounds: extreme metal vocal techniques, traditional overtone singing and the voices of the ‘Denawa’ characters — the demons — of Wayang Golek,” Rusdiana says of “Throat”, the track trailed with a video. It is written in 5/8, with passages in free metre, and singing bowls and shamanic drums can be heard on it. The mime artist Wanggi Hoed appears in the video.
Ade Syaepudin recorded it at Pilarin Corp, and Rusdiana mixed and mastered it himself at 7 Kerikil. The cover is by Tandani Mutaqim.
Text by Alba Puiggròs