Buahbatu (Bandung)

From corpse-painted farmers to sonic cartographies of the countryside, West Java’s black metal scene reimagines agrarian life as radical resistance. Bands like Bvrtan, Pure Wrath, and Sufism parody, honor, and weaponize rural imagery to confront inequality, history, and power.
We have follow the vocal project Ensemble Tikoro, in a trip through Bandung’s countryside.

There is a district on the outskirts of Bandung where traditional arts and heavy metal have collided since the 1990s—giving rise to pioneering bands, an underground zine scene, and DIY festivals that reshaped Indonesia’s music landscape.