Kartel confronts urban violence, oligarchic power, and collapsing empathy on Ordo Karnivora, a raw, relentless album born from Tangerang’s industrial pressure, daily injustice, and uncompromising hardcore-thrash fury against systemic oppression.
1. Ordo
Karnivora feels deeply rooted in urban pressure and systemic violence. How
much of the album is drawn from your personal experiences living in an
industrial city like Tangerang?
Very much
so. Tangerang is an industrial city, and the pressure is real and daily. The
noise of machines, air pollution, roads that are extremely congested and drain
your time, power relations, and very visible social inequality.
This album
was born from what we see, hear, and experience ourselves. It’s not a distant
story, it’s everyday reality.
2. The
album title suggests a brutal hierarchy—predators and survivors. What
does Ordo Karnivora symbolize for you in today’s social and
political climate?
Ordo
Karnivora is a symbol of a brutal order of life. The weak are devoured, and the
strong are never satisfied.
In today’s
social and political conditions, we see a system that protects certain
interests while forcing many people to adapt or be pushed aside.
Oligarchy
in our country has enormous power, they can decide who becomes president.
The
oligarchy here has crossed the limits of human tolerance. They turn the sea
into artificial land to build industrial capital.
Protected
forests are destroyed and replaced with palm oil plantations because they are
more profitable than naturally growing trees.
As a
result, parts of Sumatra were hit by massive floods in December 2025 after
forests were wiped out by corrupt state officials.
Thousands
of people died, hundreds of homes and livelihoods were destroyed.
You can
find this news on any media outlet.
3. Your
lyrics confront war, power, and the erosion of empathy. Do you see this album
more as a reflection of reality, or as a warning about where society is
heading?
This album
is a reflection of what oligarchy creates, but also a warning. When violence,
ambition, and the absence of empathy are normalized, we move further away from
humanity.
The richer
we become, the more greedy, arrogant, and deceitful we get, expanding power for
personal or group interests, if it is not restrained by empathy, compassion,
and mutual care.
4. Musically,
Kartel blends thrash metal and hardcore with a very stripped-down, aggressive
approach. Was it important for you to keep the sound raw and direct rather than
polished or experimental?
Yes, it was
important. We want Kartel’s music to feel honest and hit hard. Overly polished
sound can distance emotion. We chose a direct, rough approach.
It
represents our raw curses toward government officials who grow more animal-like
every day.
5. Dhika
and Rilo, how does your collaboration work when writing lyrics? Do the themes
come first, or do they emerge from the music itself?
Themes
usually come from shared conversations and collective anxiety, from moments of
reflection while stuck in traffic.
Sometimes
they come from the music, sometimes from issues we’re currently facing. Lyrics
grow organically, ideas are thrown back and forth, without forcing anything.
6. The
album is relentless in pace and intensity. How do you decide when to push
maximum aggression and when to pull back, if at all?
We don’t
hold back much. This album was designed to be intense from start to finish. If
there’s any breathing room, it comes naturally from the song’s dynamics, not
from playing it safe.
If we like
it, we agree, we record it.
7. In a
scene where many bands focus on aesthetics or image, Kartel feels
unapologetically message-driven. How do you balance activism and music without
becoming didactic?
We don’t
want to lecture anyone. We simply express what we see and feel. Music remains
the main medium, the message comes as a consequence, not the main goal.
Our main
goal is to channel our passion and deliver criticism of the system through
distortion.
In
Indonesia right now, officials are highly sensitive to criticism. Many
activists who speak out on the streets, in front of parliament buildings, are
arrested by authorities under orders from officials afraid their rotten masks
will be exposed.
8. What
role did Bowobeatlock and ERK Music Studio play in capturing the aggression and
urgency of the album’s sound?
They
understand our character. Bowobeatlock helped capture the raw energy without
losing power. ERK Music Studio gave us space to play freely while keeping
everything technically controlled.
This is our
basecamp in Tangerang. We are free to do anything here as long as it’s not
criminal acts or sexual abuse.
9. Ordo
Karnivora feels less like entertainment and more like confrontation.
What kind of reaction do you hope listeners walk away with after hearing the
full record?
We want
listeners to feel disturbed, not just entertained. If after hearing the album
people start thinking, getting angry, or feeling uneasy, then the message
landed.
We wrote a
song titled "Propaganja", as a form of protest against how the
benefits of this plant are killed for the interests of pharmaceutical
industries and certain law enforcement figures.
Cannabis is
still illegal in Indonesia, for both medical and recreational use, while
neighboring countries have begun to legalize it.
In
Indonesia, if you are caught possessing or using cannabis, you are arrested not
to be jailed, but to have your money extorted.
“What’s
wrong with us laughing?”
We will
continue on the same path, but we’re open to growing on a global scale. You can
check our Instagram, we actively submit to underground media in many countries.
We recently
released a split album with Uruguayan crossover band CONFUSION MASIVA, released
DIY through Bandcamp.
The album
has been released digitally, on CD, and cassette.
Only vinyl
hasn’t been released yet, and we hope through this interview a record label
might be willing to work with us to make that happen.
As long as
the reality around us remains harsh, Kartel will keep speaking.
KARTELICA (@kartel_huruhara) • Photos et vidéos Instagram
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