Rise from the dead! ABIARDH was established in the heyday of 90’s Malaysian underground metal scene. They had the opportunity to release “Rehearsal 99” tape before disappearing and seeming to be swallowed up by time. Even so, no one thought that was not the end. ABIARDH has risen from the grave, revived in the name of spirits and passion. Consisting of Ikram (vocals), Zack (guitar), Apitz (guitar), Black (drums), Rizal (guitar) and Syam (bass), the band unleashed an exclusive compilation “Rehearsal 99/22” CD in June 2022 and it is a sign of the future release of debut full-length album that they are currently preparing. Beware of the resurrection!!! - Interviewed by Atandistorted, 4 August 2022
Hail! First of all please share the band history and lineups? Why did you go on hiatus after “Rehearsal 99” and what made Abiardh come back after more than 20 years?
Hail! We are Abiardh, hailing from Perlis. We started Abiardh as a band in the middle of the 90’s. First lineup (1996) was Ikram (Vocal), Zack (Guitar), Rizal (Guitar), Syam (Bass) & Black (Drum), but a year later Black left the band, and Zack jumped into the Drum position. Apitz was the last member to join us as Guitarist in late 1997. At the moment we release Rehearsal 99, we are just 17 years old, SPM! Haha… then after SPM, most of us further our study, and after that we are separated by our own life and career. Then, nostalgia, friendship and passion strike us back, and these are the main keys of our comebacks. Now we at least have some free time, and we think this is a great time for us to bring back the nostalgia and share our passion together again.
Do you think that with the current formation, conditions and situation Abiardh will become stronger, more viable and have a high desire to be much more successful?
Yes, this 2022 lineup is completing us in every detail. Black joined us back as drummer and Zack is now back to his previous position as guitarist and synth. We believe in teamwork in our lineup and we seem to have reincarnated stronger and more mature than before, and we hope that we can continue to contribute our “Black Art” in the Malaysian Underground Music Industry.
Congratulations on the release of “Rehearsal 99/22” CD. Is it a concrete proof of Abiardh’s present musicstyle, image and identity?
Thank you so much… and, yes, it can be said as our new identity and style of music. Apart from that, you still can hear eastern riffing style but crossover with Western & European metal style, also a pinch of middle east riff and melodic notes here and there. And for the new lineup, we have 3 guitarists, so right now our music should be more melodic and harmonic, with 3 different guitar riffs that will compliment each other, oh ya, and for our lyrics, probably more will be written in Malay Bahasa than English.
What is contained in “Rehearsal 99/22”? Tell us about the songwriting process, recording session, and also related to the production/distribution of the CD?
This Rehearsal 99/22 is proof that we still exist, and want to contribute to the scene. This rehearsal/compilation is a combination of two different eras of Abiardh, from the year 1999 and 2022. The CD contains 6 tracks, 3 tracks are taken from our Rehearsal 99 cassette, and the other 3 songs are re-recordings. Bidadari Laut is a little special because it is a song which we didn’t record in 2000. After 22 years this song is finally finished with a new arrangement. For the record, Reh99’s recording only used a small radio cassette, at that time we were all still in middle school, with no budget…haha. For Rehearsal 22, the musical arrangement was recorded at eniQma Home Studio, Kuala Lumpur, while for vocals, Ikram recorded his voice at Eric Studio, Perlis.
Except for Bayangan Sihir Hitam, vocals were recorded at Basement One Sound Lab, Putrajaya. Bayangan Sihir Hitam lyrics are re-written by One Barchiel (As Sahar, now Phenomistik), and vocal by our drummer Black, because it was recorded in the middle of MCO due to a pandemic in 2020.
This release is distributed by IllusiFana Production which is our own label, with the Abiardh Management Group as the producer for this release. There are also 5 hidden tracks in this CD. 3 of them are preview songs for our upcoming full length album.
Can you explain in detail about the musical concept and lyrical scope in Abiardh? What elements have you emphasized and made it a trademark for Abiardh?
Looking back to our 99 styles, it was more of a supernatural and mystical theme. For the new era of Abiardh, we constantly look at additional elements, such as mysterious fairy tales, humanity, war, dark history and even positive divine lyrical themes. For our musical styles, we can say that we are more into Blackened Death Metal. Rooting by Black Metal with Melodic Death, Thrash, Progressive Rock are combined into our style. As you can hear, the addition of clean vocals are also the main elements of our songs.
Who and/or what hugely influenced Abiardh, musically and lyrically?
We had plenty, because six of us are rooting to almost a different metal genre, like Black Metal for most of us, Melodic Doom Goth, Thrash Metal, Melodic Death and some Power Metal too… for musically and lyrically Darkthrone, Absu, Langsuyr, old As Sahar, Megadeth, Dark Tranquility, Cradle of Filth, Death, Samael, Deicide, Iron Maiden, Slayer, Sepultura, Dimmu Borgir, Enthroned, Burzum, Surrender of Divinity, Crusade (Indonesia), Santet, Sauts Alastor, Chthonic, Moonspell, Halloween, Gamma Ray, Ghost and many more. It’s hard to define which band has influenced us more, but maybe listening to them for almost 25 years makes us what we are now.
Does Abiardh have plans to perform live and participate in any gig events? What about the recording status for the next full-length and what can we expect from your upcoming new album?
We are expecting “Full Blast” on stage after the completion of our full album. Currently, we are focusing and 100% committed to our full album as this will be an unforgettable moment for us at least. For now we are tightening our songs and arrangements. There’s a lot of work to do, but we enjoyed doing it. Hope it will be a great release.
What is your view on the local metal/underground scene that we have nowadays compared to the previous era (1990s and early 2000s)? That's all, thanks for answering this interview.
For the local metal/underground scene, typically nothing much different within those years, but there is a lot of improvement musically especially for a new band. Oh, also a revival of 90’s metal bands is great for us too. The comeback after comeback of 90’s (even 80’s) metal bands should make our metal scenes merrier again. We are hoping for the best.
Thank you very much for the interview. We hope for the best for you and your Distorted Reports Newsletter, have a great day ahead. Our Rehearsal 99/22 CD is still available but only 5 copies left, grab it while it lasts. You guys can buy it online via IllusiFana Production shopee, or WhatsApp IllusiFana Production at 013 623 9837. It is also available at Musixhub & Mamat Records at Campbell and Rock At Large. Thanks. Metal Terusss \m/
Note:
This interview is as published in Distorted Reports Newsletter #3
