A couple of weeks before its release, I wrote a premiere for the Malang, Indonesian band HALLAM FOE‘s newest EP, Funkapokalips. The single was the title track to the EP, and you can find me gushing about it while rambling about nostalgia here. However, Funkapokalips has now been released in its full form, and I stayed true to my word that I would snag a copy of it based on that one single. While I am awaiting my physical edition, I immediately started listening to the digital copy in my Bandcamp library. It didn’t disappoint. In fact, it was better than I thought it would be based on their previous work and the “Funkapakolips” single. It did, however, throw me for a loop and upon my third listen gave me some insight into an aspect of my music tastes that I hadn’t connected before.
HALLAM FOE kicks off Funkapokalips with a short intro track called “You Suffer! But…” which is essentially a single hardcore breakdown with the lyrics that go, ‘You suffer, but who cares? Nobody!‘ They do pull off a sonic trick that sounds like your headphones or speakers dipped into the subsonic realm of the Mariana Trench for a beat, a move I feel like I have heard in the hands of beatdown, tough guy hardcore bands that I never paid much attention to, but in HALLAM FOE‘s case, I am on board. It reminds me of this amusement park ride where you stand against a wall that spins so rapidly you stick to it, and then the whole floor drops out from beneath you, unexpected and thrilling in a way that fills you with adrenaline. They repeat this throughout the EP.
Next up is “Utopia Slot Gacor Bonanza” featuring Oz The Oddz that launches out of the gate with all of the speed and aggression that one would expect from emo-violence and sasscore, stilted guitars blast in sync with punishing beats and stress inducing vocals before the ‘woo!‘ fires off into the tell-tale sass vocals that devolve back into intense hardcore. This is all within like 30 seconds. Things slow down and we hear a hearty laugh as Oz The Oddz slides in over a slinky bassline and delivers some Indonesian hip hop. Breakdowns ensue and the floor dropping hardcore returns over nearly Black Sabbath-esque guitar tones before the whole track ends in a cacophony of screams, guitar squeals and a collapsing rhythm section. All of the lyrics are in Indonesian, as is most of this EP.
When bands dive into this genre rubbernecking, it can feel alienating to enthusiasts of singular genres, but the history of sasscore is about spitting in the face of genre conventions, a counter strike to the alpha-bros that once and still do take up a lot of space in the hardcore scene. Your camo shorts and time logged in the gym are cool and all, but they are no substitute for art. Yet, these are the dudes who most assuredly gatekeep the scene. So, when the third track, “Orgasme Regu Tembak” (featuring Bagaskoro) transitions from scorching hardcore with dual vocalists and gang vocals into a dubbed out reggae outro, I was struck with a realization.
I have found myself largely bored with punk, rock, and metal lately. There are exceptions, of course, and I will always love those genres, but why do new artists seem boring these days? Why do I seek out the most extreme and experimental versions of major and minor genres that have existed for decades? On top of that, why do I find 100 gecs more interesting than the newest Cannibal Corpse or Ghostface Killah or IDLES albums? I have great respect and a long history with those artists, but why is hearing more of the same from them less thrilling?
I think the answers are numerous, and I won’t get into it with too much detail, here. But the short of it is, that as reliable as these sounds are, they aren’t breaking any new ground, and I am not even saying that HALLAM FOE have done something revolutionary, but they are experimenting with cross-genres here in a way that sounds enthusiastic and fresh while still pulling off their brand of sassy hardcore and emoviolence in a way that is deeply satisfying. 100 gecs and other hyperpop artists are succeeding right now because they, for now, don’t have genre conventions to remain adherent to, and why even bother with that in the information age? Music fans can create their own soundtracks to their days without searching for the right playlist or radio station to satisfy their moods. So, send it, fuck the haters. Be as weird as you want with your art, because that is the fucking point of sasscore, anyway. There is little wonder I enjoy hyperactive genre jumping when The Blood Brothers were a pivotal band for me.
“Funkapokalips” seems to respond to this thought with its insanely fun sasscore meets brutal deathcore mash up and its finale chorus of ‘FUCK THIS SHIT!‘ This hilariously transfers immediately to “Hemne Fajar Kehampaan” which starts off with a direct homage to Metallica‘s “Enter Sandman” for a couple of bars before backflipping into a pool of melodic skramz with a marimba breakdown. “Premis Untuk Para Pesimis” closes things out with what may be the most straightforward skramz/hardcore track in the EP.
Every nod to convention or unconventional turn on Funkapokalips is masterfully executed. This is HALLAM FOE‘s most audacious and experimental outing yet, as the young band continues to show what kind of madness and uninhibited creativity they are capable of. They are in high contention for my favorite EP of the year with this release as well as one of my favorite artists I have been introduced to through my time here at Everything Is Noise. In under 15 minutes of music, HALLAM FOE had me rethinking the very nature of my music tastes in a way that was simultaneously nostalgic, validating, and encouraging to keep seeking the new weird that is out there. Maybe it is just a hardcore EP that I am overthinking, but it is a damn fun time either way.
