Ensemble Tikoro (Ensemble Throat in Sundanese) are a choir founded in Bandung (Java, Indonesia) by composer and teacher of music theory Robi Rusdiana in 2012 and composed of extreme metal vocalists belonging to famous outfits of the local underground, West Java, Indonesia, such as Beside, Hunus, Impish, Sethos and Warkvlt. The collective has remained open and flexible, although always represented by a core of performers, executing compositions based on sheet music by Rusdiana.

While started as a project wanting to prove and test the boundaries of extreme metal music’s sound-as-physical-assault through the sheer brutality of the human distorted voice, through the years Ensemble Tikoro has evolved into a more complex entity incorporating and exploring a plethora of extended techniques, both vocal and performative. While each of the compositions work around a precise concept and development, making Rusdiana both the author and the conductor, Ensemble Tikoro draws its strength from the experimental and the grotesque, the improvised and the sudden, the unheard and the affectively overdriving.

Hell Chamber, is a compilation of different archival short-duration works by the project alongside excerpts from long-duration commissions composed between 2013 and 2020 and recorded in the present form in 2021. The tracklist for Hell Chamber was deliberately chosen to only include and showcase vocal compositions without the employment of any effect nor other electronic instruments. The techniques used in this album consist of various forms of extended vocals, extreme metal vocals (screech, growl, grotesque, scream, gurgling, inhale, pig squeal), traditional throat singing, as well as experimental interpretations of several traditional Indonesian, indigenous vocal techniques which are explored in onomatopoeic and other vocal forms.

But don't take it from us, here's some word from Rully Shabara:

When Artetetra asked me to write these liner notes, I immediately agreed. I've always been captivated by Ensemble Tikoro, both their music and the individual personalities of its members. They deliver metal purely through vocals, performed by eight individuals with true metalhead attributes and outfits.

My first direct collaboration with Ensemble Tikoro was coaching their project with Lucy Guerin titled ‘Metal’ in Bandung. We also collaborated in the improvisational choir Black Raung Jagat. There, I witnessed firsthand how Robi Rusdiana leads his friends, each with their unique vocal techniques.

Ensemble Tikoro consists of metal band vocalists from Bandung, brought together by Robi into an a cappella group with extreme vocal techniques. Uniting diverse metal vocalists with different backgrounds is no easy feat. The distribution of notes, notation, rhythm, and dynamics cannot be handled like a typical choir composition. Texture and nuance take precedence over harmony, melody, or tempo. Various grotesque and extreme vocal techniques form the foundation for their compositions. Though their notation borrows from classical music, Robi modifies the compositional index in detail to meet specific needs. Guttural vocals, deep growls, screams, and squeals are converted into precise notation, allowing them to be performed like classical music compositions. This is particularly intriguing to me. With his background as a music academic and composer, Robi has made Ensemble Tikoro a platform to explore compositions aligned with his taste for metal and extreme vocals. The album title Hell Chamber, for instance, can be seen as a parody of Western classical chamber music, which is shorter and more compact than orchestral symphonies. However, Ensemble Tikoro doesn’t shy away from incorporating traditional vocal techniques, such as those from Wayang Golek characters, and, of course, using the Sundanese language in their texts.

I’m pleased that the Hell Chamber album is being re-released for the European market. From a Western perspective, Ensemble Tikoro’s musical concept and approach are not only unique but also promise broad developmental potential. A group of metal vocalists with distinct extreme characters, speaking Sundanese, polite, dedicated, able to read written notation, and always dressed in true metalhead style both on and off stage. This is a highly intriguing project that should evolve into many other variants in the future.

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