Remembering Irfan Sembiring, A Thrash Metal Legend Who Died In February 2021

Irfan Sembiring (Instagram @irfansembiring_rotor)

JAKARTA - Two years ago, in February 2021, one of the best sons of Indonesian thrash metal, Irfan Sembiring passed away. The Rotor frontman breathed his last while sleeping.

In memory of the life of the legend. VOI would like to review a little about Irfan's journey in the Indonesian metal world; how he awakened Rotor from a long sleep and finally left the band forever. This story is adapted from the book Kupas Dawai, by the author, which was published in September 2022.

Rotor woke up from its slumber in 2011, after they had been on a hiatus for more than a decade. Irfan restored the rubble of the band that opened the Metallica concert at Lebak Bulus, South Jakarta in April 1993 with drummer Bakar Bufthaim (who also appeared on Rotor's first album, Behind The 8th Ball), Ucokkk Tampubolon (guitar), Ungki Blvz (vocals), and Ramadhanny Hussein (bass).

Nevertheless, the rise of the band which has spawned four albums has generated various responses. Some were enthusiastic because they had been hoping for their return for a long time, and some were astonished. The reason is, during Rotor's vacuum, Irfan has made his choice to become a preacher. Almost all of his time is spent in the mosque, although not during prayer times.

The man who was born in Surabaya, on March 2, 1970, also frequently travels from mosque to mosque with the congregation based in one of the Kebon Jeruk areas, West Jakarta. In fact, every year for four months he travels the world to spread Islam. That is, if the Rotor returns, during that period they are practically in a vacuum again.

Irfan returned to the world of music in 2010. At that time, he intended to work on a project called IRS (Irfan Rotor Sembiring) with the help of several of his colleagues. He has even composed a number of songs, whose verses are said to have been adapted from the holy book of the Koran, such as Infidels - Divine Support - The Flame  - which was included in a cross-genre compilation album made by Burepublic Records, Born To Fight…Let's Start The War ( 2012) - and a song called Eleven Keys.

After eight songs were completed, four of which were filled with vocals, Irfan spoke with early Rotor producer Handi. Finally concluded, instead of creating a new flag and repeating it from scratch, it's better to use the name Rotor again. After getting the personnel he felt fit, Irfan had plans to add four to seven more songs. It can be a new song, it can also be a recycled version of an old song. All were still discussed, at that time.

Musically, the concept offered by this new formation is again 'tilted'. Like the Eleven Keys album (1995), the metal content experienced quite an extreme shift compared to Behind The 8th Ball. The difference is, now there are two guitarists, Irfan and Ucokkk who use seven-string guitars. In the division of the playing portion, Ucokkk focused on solo stuffing, while Irfan on rhythm stuffing.

"From the beginning, I always had rhythm. Rotor's old songs don't all have solos. But if it's right for Ucok to sing, add a solo and according to Rotor's crazy characteristics. While we were practicing, I only played one song solo," explained Irfan.

The guitar recording formula applied by Irfan uses the direct system with the help of Nuendo software and Direct Box ART Tube MP. For guitar, Irfan uses Paul Reed Smith borrowed from bassist Ungu, Makki Parikesit, and Washburn WGF. As for the effects, AmpliTube Metal 1 is picked from the software. Unfortunately, this album was never finished. Apart from Irfan who returned to focus on preaching, two of his personnel; Ucokkk Tampubolon and Ramadhanny Hussein later died.

Discourse to revive Rotor continues to float. In 2021, Irfan floated the idea of ​​re-recording his debut album Behind The 8th Ball which he admits has not gone his way. Understandably, the release of the album was rushed because it became a kind of mandatory requirement for Rotor before becoming the opening act for Metallica's concert. Irfan is not satisfied with the result.

There are interesting things related to the technical recording of this album's guitars, as Irfan told the writer. Here is the original transcript of the explanation:

"At that time, specifically for guitar, I was influenced by Roxx's recording technique. Because for metal, from the past until now I still consider the greatest and most experienced guitarists to be Jaya and Iwan. the vocal mic was also used for the ambience. In the end, I followed it but didn't use five mics… only three. In the middle, below for the lows, and the ambience. And my fatal mistake on that album was I picked up the guitar up to 8 times every song, so it creates a lot of reverb. Because I read in Guitar Player magazine, Warren DeMartini (Ratt guitarist) he took the guitar 8 times to get a wide sound. Because I was still stupid at that time, I forgot that Ratt's tempo of the songs isn't fast, and the guitars aren't fast, mostly just open. So if you take it 8 times it's really good…it's wide. Meanwhile, Rotor's music is high-speed…some are 1/64, some are 1/128, and they're contrived to take 8 times, resulting in an overlap. In the past, there was a custom, almost all recording studio operators when recording rock or metal music would have added reverb, and it was common for them to record anywhere. So our operator, Mas Harry, is like that too. So it's been taken 8 times, added more reverb so the sound is bad. Even though actually it's enough to take 2 times and the mic doesn't need a lot… just one is enough.”

The plans to re-record the album Behind The 8th Ball are realized when Irfan uploads a photo of himself with Makki Parikesit, his best friend, on social media. According to Irfan, Makki will accompany him and Bakar Bufthaim in Rotor's new formation. It doesn't end there. Irfan also wrote two names with the initials T on the guitar position and H on the vocal position for this formation. The two names are Tepi alias Stevi Item (DeadSquad) and Husein Alatas (Children Of Gaza).

However, fate has other plans. Irfan is called by God forever. One of the important figures in the Indonesian metal scene, he had a heart attack on February 16, two years ago.