RINUWAT is a substantive conceptual project for collaborators Karina Utomo, Rama Parwata and Mike Deslandes. Firmly steeped in Southeast Asian traditional instrumentation and notation, the trio’s ancient Javanese name translates as “to liberate oneself from a curse”. Given the depth and intensity of their compositions, that malediction does indeed demand to be extricated.

The group’s debut album, ‘Dua Naga’, carries a weight of musical intellect and amalgamated calibration that is rarely heard in contemporary outfits, let alone in the extreme metal genres that would be a graceless definition of their sound. Each member peers at a set of graduations on their instruments - Utomo’s voice is as piercingly frightening as it is poetic and mantra-like in her delivery. Parwata’s exploratory percussion that seamlessly blends Gamelan notation with bold rhythms on the drum kit and Deslandes creating sonic templates that shift between eloquent guitar narration to walls of noise and droning assaults.

The group’s first single, ‘Taring Emas’, Utomo explains:

"I approached the lyrical components of this song by following the format of ancient Javanese mantras, with the intent of harnessing the power of inner strength. When sung or voiced, the mustering power and energy is regained and manifested”.

 She continues:

”Taring Emas, Serigala, Serigala, Serigala" serves as a crux of the mantra, intended to be sung with multiple voices, a collective spell for energy”.

RINUWAT is an abstract term, a word rarely used in day to day Javanese living. A concept of self definition, of freeing one’s being from the imprecations that harbour our freedoms, in essence, to liberate. The group has made a deliberate effort to cross forms, to eradicate genres and to elude definition within their music and their name acts as a pre-cursor to the vibrancy and intelligence of the work within.

Utomo’s voice holds an avoirdupois from the mantra-like poems she delivers. Her vocal range sits outside the comfort zone of even the most avid extreme music listener, “My voice, a thousand times dark” a phrase among many that acts as a cleansing variant for the audience to indulge in.

Parwata brings not only the contemporary styles of an extreme drummer but also shows his vast palette of traditional gamelan instrumentation and techniques. The interlocking rhythms featured in Balinese Gong Kebyar and Baleganjur ensembles are metamorphosed into a contemporaneously abstract setting, masked by industrial overtones and intense noise production.

Multi instrumentalist and engineer Mike Deslandes takes on the roles of producer and guitarist. Contemporary instruments are given new voices and sounds without names complete the framework. Working with gamelan instruments and some purposeful techniques, ‘Dua Naga’ is a true merging of worlds ranging from the ancient to the contemporary extreme.

– Benjamin Wayne Andrews