Scene Notes 2026: Vocalists Moving House, Stubborn Demos, and Hardcore for All Ages

Whenever someone says the local heavy scene is "quiet", the best answer isn't an argument, it's a link to a new release. These notes aren't a best-of list and they're definitely not complete. Think of them as a stack of links worth sending.

The biggest news came early in the year, on February 1. DeadSquad announced that Vicky Mono was returning to Burgerkill at his own request, and the same day introduced Awan Graham as their new vocalist. Vocalist changes are nothing new for DeadSquad, the band has changed frontmen several times since 2006, but this moment felt different. There's nostalgia on one side because Vicky is going back to his old home, and curiosity on the other about where DeadSquad will go next. Remember too that "Perangai Nadir" had just won them the metal category at the 2025 Anugerah Musik Indonesia, so expectations are high. The band's statement at the time basically said this isn't a goodbye but part of the journey, and that they're committed to staying on the extreme music path. We're waiting for the new material.

From the hardcore punk side, there's Gledeg from Jakarta with their second album, Buat Semua Umur, which translates to "For All Ages". The title alone makes you grin, like a film rating label slapped on music that is clearly not kid-friendly. It's fast, dense, and aggressive. The songs are short, most of them over before you get bored, and the lyrics deal with close-to-home things: social criticism, daily life, small frustrations that pile up into big ones. It's the kind of album made for the ride home on a packed commuter train.

Then there's Serigala Malam, a hardcore unit that's been biting for almost two decades, who released a new demo called Made It Classic on May 20. What's interesting is the format. A band with three full-lengths chose to release a demo. To me that's a cool move. A demo is the most honest format in hardcore: raw, fast, not much polish. As if they're saying that after 18 years, the spirit is the same as a band that's rehearsed three times in a rented studio. One of the songs is even dedicated to the early era of the band itself.

On the thrash and death metal front, Antrodemus released "Annihilation" in August, and from metallic hardcore territory Sabertooth put out their second LP through Rest N Rust Records in the middle of the year. These two names represent another side of our scene that mainstream media often skips: bands that keep working, releasing, and playing shows without much drama.

Powerviolence has a representative too. KONN opened the year with three critical songs as a warm-up to a full-length. I'm always glad to see local powerviolence alive, because the genre takes nerve: you have to be angry, fast, and still clear at the same time.

One piece of news that might not fall straight into the heavy music category but still matters: Sukatani, the punk duo from Purbalingga who blew up with "Bayar Bayar Bayar", toured six cities in Australia in May. Whatever your taste, it's proof that a band from a small town with a clear stance can carry its voice pretty far.

If there's a common thread in all this, maybe it's this: the local heavy scene isn't quiet, it's just not shouting in the places you usually look. It's on Bandcamp, at the merch table after gigs, in the Instagram stories of bands with maybe two thousand followers. It works slowly, but it keeps moving.

So the next time someone says the scene is dead, don't argue. Just send them the link.