Iklim

This band had a fairly large following in both their home land of Malaysia as well as neighboring SouthEast-Asian countries, and while their mid-league debut "Satu Kesan Abadi" from the year before isn't something that your average HM Hunter needs to put on the upper half of their want list anytime soon, this sophomore release of the band is an intriguing affair - for better or worse.

Let's do Worse first: The corny sleeve is of course a major deterrent to even the most curious Metal fan and a terrible waste considering how seldom we got full-color covers from this country. Should one breach that wall, the tracklist composition is absolutely abysmal. Three (3!) useless schmallad poopfests start off side A, and after that they try to force some very mainstream, happy hard rock down our ear canals and call it even - some nerve, huh? And then, finally it gets Good. Really good actually. "Sayembara" is a smart, catchy, energic and original Melodic Metal hit of the sort that would typically be 'that one great one' on an album like this, but here comes the Better part: Side B totally rrrrrips!

Well of course we'll have to ignore another 2 ballad fillers, but the remaining 3 tracks turn out to be even stronger compositions that the A-side closer. They get consistently heavier with each track, where "Misteri Sibidal" displays a heavy, slightly more metallic "Perfect Strangers"-sound, "Hidayah" gears up to semi-Power with some sweet, darkened riffing and Asian harmonies, and finally "Dungun 12 Syawal" wraps up the album in an excellent, fast Priest/Riot-fashion - which is surprising and bloody rare initself because usually this is where we would expect another ballad crapfest. It's all very tight, slick and exceptionally well produced and for this particular style, it fits like a studded leather glove.

The commercial success of the band in the decade following this album has unfortunately rendered it quite a pricey item on the domestic market, thus making it even harder for us western collector scum to locate. As for the band's continued recorded legacy, they went on a steady decline into soft-rock territories with each record, so it's safe to say that "Bulan Jatuh Ke Riba" is the undisputed peak in their discography.