Bekasi-based Januaryo Hardy has been writing and performing metal music since he was in high school. Over the past decade, his numerous one-man metal projects have earned him respect from local heavy music enthusiasts as well as opportunities to tour abroad.

Brooklyn-based heavy metal website MetalSucks named Januaryo’s black metal project Pure Wrath one of the best 10 black metal bands in Southeast Asia. And the 28-year-old's most recent release in the Pure Wrath project, titled Hymn To The Woeful Hearts, received even broader exposure, thanks to its excellent craftsmanship and its bleak depiction of the 1965 Indonesian mass killings, a dark chapter of the country’s history. 

Meaningful artwork: 'Hymn To The Woeful Hearts' is a concept album dedicated to those who survived the 1965 Indonesian mass killings and saw their family members kidnapped, exiled, tortured and even murdered. (Courtesy of Pure Wrath's bandcamp) (Courtesy of Pure Wrath's bandcamp/Courtesy of Pure Wrath's bandcamp)

Singular vision 

Januaryo’s introduction to audio software happened quite early. In the 5^th or 6^th grade, he said, he would open computers and laptops left by clients of his father, who was an IT technician. He soon discovered straightforward audio recording software, such as Cakewalk, and started learning how to use it. 

In school, Januaryo met others who were into tinkering with audio, and some happened to like metal as well. However, after playing in bands for a while, he quickly realized that he’d be better off making music on his own. 

“I don’t like jamming in the studio. You waste riffs for hours but end up with like a quarter or a half of a song. Plus, you have to rent the studio and spend money every week,” he said, “Once, I encouraged the other band members to start recording by themselves on their own laptops, before mixing all the tracks together. It was like a digitalization of the band I guess, but they weren’t into it. So perhaps we’re just on a different path.” 

“Ultimately, it’s hard for me to have more than one head in a band. I’d rather make my own songs, then give them to other people to have them counter my ideas without lessening what I've already created.” 

At the age of 15, Januaryo started a his first one-man band, a “brutal death metal” project called Perverted Dexterity. He started playing live gigs a few years later, with him on guitar and vocals accompanied by drum tracks created on his laptop. Over the years, Perverted Dexterity – and his other one-man metal projects – would have Januaryo playing gigs everywhere, from Java and Kalimantan to Moscow and Japan. 

In 2014, Januaryo started Pure Wrath, his first foray into black metal and what would become his main project. 

Personal connection: The lyrics of 'Hymn To The Woeful' Hearts are close to Januaryo’s heart, as some of his own family members went missing during the 1965 Indonesian mass killings. (Courtesy of Adi Sasono) (Courtesy of Adi Sasono/Courtesy of Adi Sasono)

Soundtrack to mass killings 

Pure Wrath’s latest offering, Hymn To The Woeful Hearts, released in February, is an atmospheric black metal album that is both menacing and melodic, with clean guitar passages and classically inspired piano providing breaks between the album’s heavier sections. The production is also noticeably cleaner and more “accessible” than many albums in the genre, which opt for the lo-fi approach, which puts forth rawer sounds. 

But what makes the music even more powerful is the fact that Hymn To The Woeful Hearts is a concept album dedicated to those who survived the 1965 mass killings, who saw their family members kidnapped, exiled, tortured and murdered. In 1965-1966, large-scale killings and civil unrest, incited by the armed forces, the government and vigilante groups, took place in the country following a coup attempt whose details remain uncertain. Estimates of the deaths range from about 500,000 to 2 million people, and many victims were members – or supposed members – of the Indonesian Communist Party (PKI) or others deemed leftists.

The topic is close to Januaryo’s heart, as some of his own family members went missing in the purge. 

“Some of my family members are still missing. My grandfather’s older brother, for one, was a farmer in South Bandung, and I have never met him,” Januaryo said.

Stigma continues to surround the victims of the 1965 purge for their alleged association with communism. Many avoid talking about the subject altogether. 

“A lot of people in my family refuse to talk about it, so I had to dig deep by myself,” Januaryo said. “And it’s certainly not being taught in school, like the history is being twisted.”

While he did not directly go through the pain of the purge, Januaryo wants more people to know about the tragic period. 

“The lyrics are kind of metaphorical, and they tell the story of a mother who lost her son but had to live among the same people who took him away from her in the first place. It’s depressing, but she can’t do anything about it,” he said. “It’s not about my family per se, but it’s the same theme, with references to Joshua Oppenheimer’s documentaries [The Act of Killing and The Look of Silence] peppered in.” 

One-man band: Januaryo says he prefers the artistic independence of working by himself and seeking input at later stages of a project. (Courtesy of Tino Guruh Putra) (Courtesy of Tino Guruh Putra/Courtesy of Tino Guruh Putra)

Global appeal

In 2021, Pure Wrath was supposed to tour Europe, before the tour was canceled due to the pandemic. Januaryo said he hoped Pure Wrath could finally hit the continent, since most of its listeners came from there. 

Yurii Kononov, a 34-year-old metal drummer based in Odessa, Ukraine, who was in a shelter taking cover from Russian air raids during the interview, said he came across Pure Wrath’s music after it was recommended to him by a mutual acquaintance of Januaryo in the metal community. It did not take him long to come to appreciate the project. 

“Five minutes of checking out their back catalog, I was instantly hooked. The music is really great, and I wanted to be involved in the project,” Kononov said. 

For Pure Wrath’s past two albums, Kononov has been its de-facto drummer in recordings and will also be the band’s live drummer on its future European tour. 

Kononov introduced Januaryo to Phil, the owner of Paris-based independent metal label Debemur Morti Productions, home of France’s Blut aus Nord, Denmark’s Hexis and New Zealand’s Ulcerate, among others.

Phil decided to release Hymn To The Woeful Hearts on his label, making Pure Wrath the first Southeast Asian musical project on its roster. 

“I don’t really care where a band is from as long as their art speaks to me. I’m sure Pure Wrath’s music is influenced by where they come from, but there’s no direct traditional Asian influences in their music, although lyrically, that’s totally a different case,” Phil said.

Phil also supports what the album stands for lyrically. 

“As a foreigner, I think it’s great that people get to learn about things that happened far away from us and yet had a tragic impact on many people. It’s a great tool to raise awareness of that side of Indonesian history.” 

Januaryo hopes that the songs evoke a strong enough reaction to get metal fans wanting to understand more about the killings. 

“I felt I had to contribute in telling these stories, which are often not talked about, to others,” he said. 

“I wanted to make something meaningful, something close to me, as opposed to just singing about goats’ heads or whatever.”