Valley of Chrome, first Pinoy metal band, to perform in Indonesia’s Hammersonic 2018

Valley of Chrome, first Pinoy metal band, to perform in Indonesia’s Hammersonic 2018

by rick olivares

Filipino metal band, Valley of Chrome, will be performing in Hammersonic 2018, this coming Sunday, July 22, in Jakarta, Indonesia. Hammersonic is one the biggest heavy metal festivals in Southeast Asia let alone Asia.

For this year’s edition that will be held at the Carnaval Beach Ancol, Swedish melodic death metallers, In Flames, American punk rock legends the Dead Kennedys along hardcore punk compatriots, H2O, will headline the festival that draws tens of thousands fans from the region.

Valley of Chrome, which has been around for almost two decades, are hoping this will be their regional breakthrough.

“For us it seems like a dream come true,” gushed lead singer Rogel Africa. “To be able to play a different country with the bands we look up to is such a huge landmark in the band’s career. We feel that this is hopefully a sign that Filipino talent should be heard more.”

Hammersonic will be the fifth time for Valley of Chrome to perform outside the Philippines. They have performed in Singapore and Thailand as well. However, in terms of opportunity, Hammersonic is the biggest.

The festival has drawn some of the top acts from the heavy music genre from Bullet for My Valentine, Hatebreed, Megadeath, Kreator, Nile, and Epica to name but a few. And the day-long concert is the biggest in the Asia Pacific region.

The band which started out of Laguna at the start of the new millennium, has to date, released five extended play albums and three full length albums. And perhaps coincidentally with their international breakthrough, the band is gearing up for its fourth album in a few months’ time.

“We are releasing what we believe is our best body of work with the most solid lineup yet,” tickled Africa. “We are aiming to come up with more challenging songs with topics that are rarely tackled in heavy music.”

Valley of Chrome’s current line-up features Africa; guitarists Tatel Marcelino and Kaloi Cambaliza; bassist Jordan Constantino who aside from the former, are the sole remaining members of the original roster; drummer Paul Eusebio, and Africa.

“We are also looking into playing to more diverse crowds and collaborate with artists outside of our genre. We aim to be less predictable and come from leftfield. We take it as a challenge within the walls of a much stereotyped genre like metal,” expounded Africa of the band’s direction.

Summed up Constantino of this opportunity, “Playing outside the Philippines brought the realization that there is a bigger scene and world out there. Music shouldn’t be confined to one area only. Metal, like all music, speaks a global language, and to see people of different cultures get together for heavy music inspires us to think outside the box all the time.”