Karina Utomo

Forged in the pits of the underground hardcore scene, Karina Utomo has spent decades distorting her vocal chords with ancestral rage. The Indonesian-born Melbourne-based vocalist and composer fractures standard heavy music templates to unearth the political turmoil and dark histories of her homeland, pulling from Javanese mythology to turn extreme vocal distortion into a deeply spiritual tool of cultural reclamation. Her approach to the voice grew out of confronting Indonesia’s suppressed histories, particularly the violence and silence surrounding the 1965–66 anti-communist purge and the authoritarian New Order that followed.

• Rantai Penjinak, by KILAT

• Rantai Penjinak, by KILAT