Weekly Playlist - Makhlvk

Image source: Makhlvk's official Instagram

This band has been a talk for about a couple of weeks now in the Indonesian deathcore scenes and communities. The singles are even featured in Loudnesia's best deathcore songs playlist. Makhlvk is a one-man Jakarta-based band of Agung (Deathsquad additional bassist, Killing Me Inside, Ville.) No wonder he has experience in mixing these beautiful deathcore pieces. They’re definitely not like those Indonesian lo-fi deathcore stuff with cute shots of drums. Oh, and you can stream Makhlvk on Spotify for free, too.

Makhlvk is a cryptid-themed band. The name Makhlvk is derived from the Indoenesian word “makhluk”, which means “creature” in English. This project is expected to scream out songs about cryptid, supranatural creatures and phenomenon. In fact, a lot of hard work and experience have brought this ideal to fruition. No kidding. Each and every story is thoroughly represented in the songs.

1. Sirenas (feat. Hendro of Crown As Divine)

Sirenas tells about a hypothesis of aquatic ape by Alister Hardy. He believes that there is a new species of ape which can adapt to aquatic environment. This creature is said to be dwelling at seas with its adaptability gained from evolution. On a seemingly unrelated note, the title Sirenas were taken from a Spanish word which means “mermaid”. I almost mistake the song to be about sirens because of it. This song employs a combination of Indonesian and English lyrics.

2. Cryptobiological Neonatal Miscreation

The title actually describes “tuyul” a lot that it’s self-explanatory. In Indonesia, a tuyul is a vermin. This creature usually dwells at night, with the appearance of a bald child with tiny body. Tuyul’s job is to steal money from people, making use of its stealth ability and invisibility. Somehow they kind of has the ability to smell where people keep their money. Often times, tuyul is considered a miscreation or abomination of an unborn child.

This song explains the existence of tuyul and how it interacts with living beings. It got a guitar cover already from a Malaysian on Instagram. The flow of the song is so impressive that I can hardly recognize this as an Indonesian deathcore song. Performance-wise, with that brutal drums, it’s better in many ways than Sirenas.

3. Morbid Obsession (feat. Justin of In Vice Versa)

This time, Makhlvk collaborates with Justin Ang, a guitarist from a Thai-based deathcore band In Vice Versa. Justin filled the guitar solo (check out his live solo here), which makes this song melodic enough to the fans of The Black Dahlia Murder. I think it is Makhlvk’s best song so far in terms of technicality; still, the flow in the song above is better. There’s a part of modern and technical breakdown which adds more seasonings to the song.

Morbid Obsession is inspired from a case of Carl Tanzler. He’s a bacteriologist who fell in love and obsessed with a women called Elena Milargo de Hoyo. She was his patient who suffered from tuberculosis. Unfortunately, she didn't make it. So Carl decided to dug her grave. He ended up keeping her body, hiding her from the outside world while fucking her when he got the chance. It’s still debatable if the motive was purely necrophilia or just and ugly obsession because he was in love to Elena when she was alive, not an obsession of any corpses in general.

All in all, I am looking forward to Makhlvk’s next releases. This project is surely one of the most anticipated at the end of 2017 in the local scene that some people call it as Indonesian Infant Annihilator. Makhlvk clearly is awaited by many, looking forward to what the band has to offer as a cryptid-themed band. Well, it’s hard to disagree on that. See you next post.

Links:
Makhlvk Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/makhlvk/
Makhlvk Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/makhlvk