format: LP
year: 1989
country: Singapore
label: Sinar
#: SN 3302
info: "Sejarah Sebuah Cinta" was the official title of the commercially available cassette version, but it's not indicated as an album title anywhere on this promo-only vinyl.
style: Heavy Metal, Power Metal
Side A:
Side B:
For those bent on hunting down all the Heavier Malaysian HM vinyls, where the real Metal songs are in majority (a preciously rare phenomenon), this obscurity will most likely have passed you buy. Myself I'd never heard about it until recently, when looking for a completely different album and seeing this one flash by on the same list. Having something so silly as a keytar in the band logo should have scared me off, and after checking it out on YT and enduring not one but 2 ballads in a row as album openers, I was ready to throw it in the mental trash bin. Then came the first of the Metallers in the form of "Kesedaran", and if not entirely blown away, I was generally intrigued! Heavy and honest semi-Power Metal in the vein of all your favourite post/latecomer-NWOBHM acts like Elixir, Cloven Hoof or Desolation Angels.
After a scary acoustic intro, the slow but heavy "Pulang Kepangkal Jalan" continues on the trail of goodness. Surely by now we'd see a return to the schmallad pits, no? No. Even if it's a bit on the monotonous side, and even if drenched in never-ending solos, the instrumental "Instrumental" that closes side A is an absolute ripper with some seriously lead-heavy, grinding riffing. What a cool surprise!
The pounding "Tragedi Dalam Mimpi" with its Arabian Nights-flavoured guitars and Maideneque mid break keeps the steel tempered at the beginning of side B, and skipping another schmallad shitstain we get the speedy "Peperangan Dunia", once again peppered with more of those asian-flavoured harmonies exactly where we need them. They close the iron gates with the superb epic "Serigala Jadian" and it's not the first time where I hear the lead to Manowar's "Blood Of My Enemies" haunting a Malay Metal tune. Buzzing beehive guitars and an occationally screamish vocalist notwithstanding, this is pretty close to a must-have Asian Metal album in my book.
...but the real scoop concerning this band and album didn't become clear to me after some more in-depth research: These guys are
in fact the infamous VICTIM under a new name(!) Even if I hear some similarities in retrospect, this is by far the better of their 2 albums, so don't go on a wild goose-chase for the more 'kült'-looking debut before you've managed to grab this baby.