Wayne the bassist and Sam the lead singer belting it out in Gadong last Saturday night.

It was all about guitar riffs and face-melting solos in Gadong last Saturday night, as well-known local metal band Karacoma rocked Chill Café at The Mall with the launch of their debut album, ‘Shattered Mirrors’.
‘Shattered Mirrors’ contains 12 original tracks by Karacoma, including ‘I.K.T.S’, which recently received awards for Best Rock Song at the Voice Independent Music Awards (VIMA) 2010 and Asia Pacific Voice Independent Music Awards (AVIMA) 2010.

The album also features ‘Paranoia’ – the band’s first single to have been released on Kristal FM, which went straight to No 4 on the Kristal FM charts. Also on the album are two songs that have recently been released on the airwaves: ‘December Snow’ and ‘Anthem’.

It was revealed last Saturday that the mixing process for the album was done at Chapel Studio, Lincolnshire in the United Kingdom, by Simon Efemey, who has worked with many famous metal and hard rock groups, such as Napalm Death, Paradise Lost, Obituary, Amorphis, Deceased and the Wildhearts.

In an interview with two of the bands members, vocalist Sam Siren and bassist Wayne, said, “We just want to get this album launched, because it’s been delayed since December last year due to technical difficulties.

“It’s been a long time. We’ve been working on this album since 2006, and recording took nearly two years,” said Sam. “At this point in time we’re already writing our second album.”

Asked for her thoughts on the music scene in Brunei, she said, “There has been a bit of progress, though the music scene could be better. It’s high time we have a music industry, not a scene.

“Other countries are wondering what the industry is like in Brunei, but there is no industry, it’s still a scene,” she said. “Brunei has a lot of talent. Just look at the Monopolist.

“The support we’ve received is surprisingly quite good,” she continued. “That’s why we are introducing the album and the Monopolist. We’re not breaking ground, we’re opening doors.”

The Monopolist is a young local indie band who opened the album launch with their first-ever public performance on Saturday, where they played six songs, including two of their own entitled, ‘Second Best’ and ‘Moving in Time’.

Consisting of the members Amin, Qawiem, Hazwan, Din and Maliki, the Monopolist’s main musical influences are the Strokes, Kings of Leon, Arctic Monkeys and other international indie bands.

“It’s an honour to be opening for Karacoma,” they said before the show. “It’s our first public performance, so we’re all feeling pretty excited.”

Asked what they felt made them stand out, they said, “Our originality. I think Wayne wanted us because he said we are original, and he likes our songs.”

After the Monopolist, Karacoma came on stage to perform six of their own songs, including ‘I.K.T.S’, ‘Paranoia’, ‘Withered Love’, ‘December Snow’, ‘Breathe’ and ‘Fire’, before proceeding with a meet and greet session with their fans.

The launch was a collaboration between Karacoma and sponsors Chill Café, Starmakers, Ndesign Studio and Viva Havana Café.

Twenty-four hours after the launch, it was revealed that about 120 copies of the album have been sold. Selling at $18 each, Shattered Mirrors can be obtained at Starmakers Studios, Batu Bersurat and any Sia & Tang Co branches.

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