Cromok "Image of Purity"

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First and foremost, any Malaysian metal music lover would know what band Cromok is.

For those of you who do not recognise the band, please click here or here, here, here or even here for further reading.

Well, is this a bootleg shirt? I am not sure myself but the copyright written on the shirt by the shirt's maker was enough to convince me to buy it.

I have always wanted an official Cromok t-shirt and if this is a bootleg, I guess this is as close as I get to having one because despite Cromok's legendary status, their merchandises are very hard to find.

The band, especially through their "guitar hero" a.k.a. lead guitarist Khairul Anuar a.k.a. Karl is very fierce when they discovered that their merchandises have been bootlegged, so I guess the maker of this shirt should have considered that before printing and putting their name on this shirt.

To date, five years after buying this shirt, I heard no news about Cromok coming out with a statment saying that this shirt is a bootleg, so yeah I now feel confortable wearing it.

Many years ago while visiting the Campbell Complex in Kuala Lumpur, I stumbled upon this shirt here at "Kedai Aunty".

Since it's design is based on the band's debut and my favourite album from the band, I wasted no time and grabbed this fast and the rest I would say is history.

Cromok's debut album "Image of Purity" was released in 1991 and it has a very huge impact on Malaysian who aspires to play and form metal bands not only during the time, but to this day as well.

What Malaysian metal head would not want to listen or have a copy that album in their collection?

Oh well, glad to have this shirt to be one of my shirts in my collection of metal t-shirts.

BASIC INFO

Shirt: Cromok "Image of Purity"

Category: legendary Malaysian band

Subject Origin: Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

Condition: 9/10

Back print: yes

Long sleeve: no

Sleeves print: no

Shirt status: undetermined, released by clothing label

Printing ink and method: professional printing

Foxhole "Sarawak Alcoholic Thrasher"

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Foxhole was formed by Mathew "Boy" Chong, former member of Sarawakian thrash metal bands Militant Attack and Dead Shot.

Like Militant Attack and Dead Shot, this band too plays thrash metal and is active playing shows around Sarawak and the band so far have not played any show outside of the Malaysian state of Sarawak.

This t-shirt is the first ever t-shirt released by the band and is based on the band's artwork of their first and only release to date "The Cleansing Act".

"The Cleansing Act" a demo released by the band in 2012.

My sources tell me that this shirt was printed in Bintulu, Sarawak too.

It was only available in red colour, short sleeve and the maker of this shirt have so far made just one piece of long sleeve for the maker's own keeping.

BASIC INFO

Shirt: Foxhole "Sarawak Alcoholic Thrasher"

Category: local Malaysian band t-shirt

Subject Origin: Kuching, Sarawak, Malaysia

Condition: 9/10

Back print: yes

Long sleeve: no*

Sleeves print: no

Shirt status: original, self-released by band

Printing ink and method: rubber dye, silk screen

Malaysian Metal Warrior

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This is a shirt of a memorable gig which I attended many years ago in Kuala Lumpur.

It was the first and... last time I saw Silent Death perform live in a show and this was the gig.

The shirts design look sloppy and it looked like its a cheap effort but this shirt is will certainly be one of the most sought-after local Malaysian gig t-shirts of all time.

The quality of this shirt leave a lot to be desired to me and I wish it could be better plus I think the back print design looks grotesque.

Oh well, better this than no gig shirt at all right?

As usual I bought this shirt during the show which was held 1Cafe, Kuala Lumpur at the time.

Another memorable fact about this shirt is that I attended a gig for the first time with one of my best friends, Abi "Nayyir Al Fakka" Suffian from Kuala Lipis, Pahang.

Every time when I look at this shirt, it certainly give me not only memorable but significant memories which I will forever cherish.

BASIC INFO

Shirt: Malaysian Metal Warrior

Category: local Malaysian metal gig t-shirt

Subject Origin: Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

Condition: 8/10

Back print: yes

Long sleeve: no

Sleeves print: no

Shirt status: original, released by organisers

Printing ink and method: rubber dye, silk screen

Testament "The New Order"

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Who does not recognise this band?

Should there be people who do not, I advise the person to either click here or here.

Oh well, whatever it is, this is what I copy-pasted from Wikipedia about this band:

Testament is an American thrash metal band from Berkeley, California. Formed in 1983 under the name Legacy, the band consists of vocalist Chuck Billy, guitarists Eric Peterson and Alex Skolnick, bassist Steve DiGiorgio and drummer Gene Hoglan.  

Testament is often credited as one of the most popular bands of the thrash metal scene, having sold over 1.4 million albums in the United States since the beginning of the SoundScan era and 14 million albums worldwide.

This shirt's design was based on the album cover design of Testament' second studio album "The New Order" released in the year 1988,

Nothing else was written on it apart from the band's name thus for archiving purposes, I'll just refer this shirt to Testament "The New Order".

I got this from a shop well known for selling official merchandises in Kuching which is the Rupert Rage shop during the time this shop was located at Centre Point plaza.

What sort of shirt collector from Sarawak does not own at least one original band t-shirt from the Rupert Rage Shop, right?

BASIC INFO

Shirt: Testament "The New Order"

Category: American metal band t-shirt

Subject Origin: Oakland, California, United States of America

Condition: 8.5/10

Back print: yes

Long sleeve: no

Sleeves print: no

Shirt status: official merchandise, exported to Malaysia

Printing ink and method: professional printing

Crown ov Horns "Infernvs Dominatvs"

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Depends on who you talk to or ask, this band, Crown ov Horns to me is a serious band and not a side project by former Mantak members, who at the time still played with Mantak.

Sadly this band's existence is somewhat short-lived as I think they had a lot potential to be a big band, one that can represent Malaysia.

Crown ov Horns hails from Kota Kinabalu, Sabah, Malaysia and was formed in 2008.

Looking at this shirt here, I got a confession to make; I really forgotten where did I buy this shirt.

This shirt's design was based on their first and only album to date, Infernvs Dominatvs relesed in 2011.

I really love the design of this album cover and I am glad that they released a shirt based on their album's artwork too.

It has been 5 years since they released, anything and I tried my best not to miss anything released by this band.

BASIC INFO

Shirt: Crown ov Horns "Infernvs Dominatvs"

Category: local Malaysian band

Subject Origin: Kota Kinabalu, Sabah, Malaysia

Condition: 9/10

Back print: yes

Long sleeve: no

Sleeves print: no

Shirt status: original, released by clothing label

Printing ink and method: plastisol ink screen printing

Guidelines to My Collections

In this blog of mine, I would like to point out that:

1. This blog was created as a personal museum of mine. I am not hoping that anyone would follow this blog of mine, should there be any then its good news to me.
2. I only review my stuffs here. Never would I think about reviewing things that are not mine.
3. There will be no bootleg shirts featured on this blog. Although I do have bootleg shirt in my collection, but I wont waste my time featuring them on this blog.
4. Like I said before, I put more emphasis on local band t-shirts, while I do enjoy displaying the imported official merchandises of well-known international bands once a while, it is the local bands t-shirts that inspired me to create this blog.
5. I only display METAL shirts only. I too own t-shirts released by bands playing genres other than metal, but should I post them here, it however beats the purpose of this blog.
6. As for gig t-shirts, I only collect gig t-shirt of gigs that I've attended. I strictly do not keep any gig t-shirts of any gig that I have not attended.
7. Same as the case of gig t-shirts, if I were to buy a band tour shirt, I must at least attend at least one of the shows at the venues printed on the shirt. I do not keep any band tour t-shirts of which I am not a participant of.
8. Last but certainly not least, is that too do not collect any shirt of a certain band if I do not have any physical audio release from the band. Metal is most importantly enjoyed with the ears. Not the eyes. For example; If I were wear a Sepultura's "Schizophrenia" t-shirt, I must at least own a physical and OFFICIAL copy of the album in any physical audio format. Just having mp3 files of the album does not count as owning the album.

Why created all these rules for myself? Well, all I can say is that it for self satisfaction. I am not saying that my rules are to be followed and those who did not follow it are posers though. I set these sort of rules for myself so that I can look and be satisfied with what I collected. Nothing is more important that satisfaction to me.

Me with my friend Aziz seen wearing local Malaysian gig t-shirts in at his hometown Alor Setar, Kedah , Malaysia early this year (2016). Both of us attended the gigs  printed on our t-shirts respectively.  Looking at the t-shirts of gigs which he wore while hanging out with me, I guess he too does not wear t-shirts of gigs which he did not attend, like me. My friend here also runs an online metal merchandise business known as the Metal Zone Distro. 

Meeting Yonk of the Darkcastle shop to buy t-shirt and CDs at his shop during my recent visit to Indonesia this year (2016). His shop is located at Plaza Parahyangan, Bandung, Indonesia. In this photo, I am seen wearing a local Malaysian band t-shirt while he is seen wearing a local Indonesian band t-shirt. Oh, we are so patriotic. Hehe. Only original merchandises are found in his shop. Strictly no bootleg. I had a good time chatting with him during our short and brief meeting.

Kuala Lumpur Metal Camp III

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Kuala Lumpur Metal Camp (KLMC) is Malaysia's biggest and most glamourous metal music festival to date.

I've attended the event's first five editions and I had good experiences attending them as the KLMC.

This shirt here is the shirt for the event's third edition organised at the now defunct 1Cafe, Jalan Raja Laut, Kuala Lumpur in 2010.

I got my copy, well of course, while attending the gig and boy this shirt sold fast.

It was during this gig that I first saw legendary Indonesian band Jasad play apart from seeing the late Stone of the legendary Malaysian band Silent Death perform with another legendary Malaysian metal band Picagari.

Jaie, the front man of local death metal band Sil Khannaz was the person responsible to have printed this shirt... well, at least I know he's one of the personnel if there is more than one.

Malaysian metalheads should not miss attending this event (at least once) as it is one of the best metal event there is and it continues to be organised yearly during the time of writing this.

BASIC INFO

Shirt: Kuala Lumpur Metal Camp III

Category: local Malaysian metal gig t-shirt

Subject Origin: Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

Condition: 8/10

Back print: yes

Long sleeve: no

Sleeves print: no

Shirt status: original, released by organisers

Printing ink and method: plastisol ink screen printing

Abhorer "Rumpus of the Undead"

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For regular underground metal band fans, there is really no need for an introduction when it comes to the legendary Singaporean black-death metal band Abhorer.

What ever it is, I wont waste my time here introducing this band and should anyone wishes to know more about this band, please click here or click here.

I got this shirt when attending the KL Metal Camp gig in 2012, I saw this dangling at Mr Khaal's booth and I immediately grabbed this together with his label's pressing of the band's release of the same name,

Mr Khaal runs a label/ shop in his native Singapore called Ravage Records.

"Rumpus of the Undead" is the band's first ever release, a demo,  by the band in 1989.

BASIC INFO

Shirt: Abhorer "Rumpus of the Undead"

Category: Singaporean Malaysian band t-shirt

Subject Origin: Singapore

Condition: 9/10

Back print: yes

Long sleeve: no

Sleeve prints: no

Shirt status: original, released by label

Printing ink and method: rubber dye, silk screen printing

Demon War "Hell Metal"

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Kota Samarahan-based bestial warmetal act Demon War released their first ever shirt  approximately 5 years ago, sometime in the year 2011 or something.

I got this from the band and I was lucky to have their one and only shirt to date (during the time of writing this).

It features the band's logo in front and an inverted cross on its back.

Looking forward to be seeing more releases by this band in the near future.

One of the few metal bands to emerge from Kota Samarahan, Sarawak, Malaysia.

BASIC INFO

Shirt: Demon War "Hell Metal"

Category: Local Malaysian band t-shirt

Subject Origin: Kota Samarahan, Sarawak, Malaysia

Condition: 9/10

Back print: yes

Long sleeve: no

Sleeve prints: no

Shirt status: original, released by band

Printing ink and method: rubber dye, silk screen printing

Sickening Art (Chapter V)

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I bought this in 2012 after attending the fifth installment of the Sickening Art Gig a.k.a. Sickening Art Gig (Chapter V) organised by Derangement Project and held at the Razz-Ma-Tazz, Tuaran road in Kota Kinabalu, Sabah.

Sickening Art back in the days is an annual event which features Sabah's metal bands on one show and is often considered as the main metal event of the year for Sabah.

I remember seeing American band Nunslaughter playing during the time and taking photos with the late Jim Sadist, the band's drummer.

His band was also the main act and their performance was the highlight performance of the Sickening Art Gig (Chapter V) gig.

It was only my second time ever travelling to and attending a gig at the capital city of one Malaysia's two East Malaysian states, Sabah (my home state of Sarawak is the other East Malaysian state, neighbouring Sabah in the island of Borneo).

Sadly, I had to point out that the recent fucking flood which hit my home has ruined this shirt of mine, after being soaked for day, it resulted in a lots of... ugly permanent patches on this shirt.

During the time I bought this shirt, I remembered that I almost missed the opportunity to buy it earlier on as the organisers did not get this shirt ready on time before the gig.

Remembering the time, I had to pester the organisers (or should I say organiser in singular) just to obtain a copy of this shirt and looking at its condition, it just saddens me.

Oh well, what is important to me is that I still own this for remembrance.

BASIC INFO

Shirt: Sickening Art (Chapter V)

Category: local Malaysian metal gig t-shirt

Subject Origin: Kota Kinabalu, Sabah, Malaysia

Condition: 7/10

Back print: yes

Long sleeve: no

Sleeves print: no

Shirt status: original, released by organisers

Printing ink and method: plastisol ink screen printing

Killing Fields "Extermination by Human"

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On a quick glimpse, one might think that this was a t-shirt released by a black metal band.

Should one think as such, the person should be forgiven for this is a t-shirt released by a speed/ thrash metal band from Thailand.

Not much I know about this band apart from searching for the little info about the band found in Encyclopedia Metallum.

They played at least 1 show in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia as far as I could remember, which was during the time I last met them in 2011.

I traded something (which I again forgotten what it was) with a member of this band for this band shirt of theirs that year too in with this shirt and I managed to obtained their CD as well.

During our meeting at the time, I too experienced problems communicating with the band due to the language barrier- I speak Malay and English fluently while they speak only Thai and a smattering of English during the time.

This shirt's design was based on the artwork cover of their debut album "Extermination by Human" released in 2009.

BASIC INFO

Shirt: Killing Fields "Extermination by Human"

Category: Local Thailand band t-shirt

Subject Origin: Samutprakan, Bangkok, Thailand

Condition: 9/10

Back print: yes

Long sleeve: no

Sleeve prints: no

Shirt status: original, released by band

Printing ink and method: rubber dye, silk screen printing

Morggorm "The Eye of Gorsha Dimmag"

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Encyclopaedia Metallum recorded that this band was formed in 2003 but as I far as I can remember, the band's current members told me that they were formed in 2005, right after they met each other after Kreator's concert in Kuala Lumpur at the time.

This shirt's artwork was based on the band's debut and only album to date, "The Eye of Gorsha Dimmag", released in 2007.

I got this copy of mine from the band and this is one of my first underground metal t-shirts that I bought after moving to Kuala Lumpur many years ago.

There is no way that I will sell this as it brings me sentimental value.

Morggorm plays thrash metal in the veins of Destruction and Kreator.

BASIC INFO

Shirt: Morggorm "The Eye of Gorsha Dimmag"

Category: Local Malaysian band t-shirt

Subject Origin: Kuala Lumpur, Federal Territory, Malaysia

Condition: 8/10

Back print: no

Long sleeve: no

Sleeve prints: no

Shirt status: original, released by band

Printing ink and method: rubber dye, silk screen printing

Sadus "Good Rid'nz"

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Wikipedia is such a credible source of information. So this is what Wikipedia said about this band:

Sadus is an American thrash metal trio from Antioch, California known for the unique, borderline death/black metal growling of vocalist Darren Travis, and speeding up thrash metal to levels previously unheard of with the help of bassist Steve DiGiorgio whose bass lines truly pushed the limits of the genre.

This shirt's design was based on the designs of Sadus' second studio album "Swallowed in Black" released in the year 1990 and the shirt's title is taken from the name of one of the tracks in the album.

I got this from a shop well known for selling official merchandises at Pertama Complex, Kuala Lumpur. Yes, this album is one of my favourite metal albums ever. I got a copy of this album in cassette format.

BASIC INFO

Shirt: Sadus "Good Rid'nz"

Category: American metal band t-shirt

Subject Origin: Antioch, California, United States of America

Condition: 8.5/10

Back print: yes

Long sleeve: no

Sleeves print: no

Shirt status: official merchandise, exported to Malaysia

Printing ink and method: professional printing

Humiliation (IDN) "Blasphemer Legion"

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For Malaysian and Indonesia metal music followers, let me make it clear for you guys first. This shirt was released by the INDONESIAN band Humiliation. Not the Malaysian band with the same name.

This band plays brutal death metal sub-genre while the Malaysian band with the same name plays something rather like an old-school death metal sub-genre.

I got this shirt when I happened to be visiting this band'a hometown Bandung, Indonesia this year.

During the time, I was browsing around for local releases by bands from Bandung and one of the stores there (known as Perapatan Label) recommended me this. Upon buying this shirt the store too gave me a copy of the band's CD as the band has made it available for free too.

This shirt's artwork was not based on any of their musical releases and I guess its artwork, title and design was only meant for the release of this shirt.

BASIC INFO

Shirt: Humiliation (IDN) "Blasphemer Legion"

Category: local Indonesian band

Subject Origin: Soreang, Bandung, West Java, Indonesia

Condition: 8.5/10

Back print: yes

Long sleeve: no

Sleeves print: no

Shirt status: original, released by clothing label

Printing ink and method: plastisol ink screen printing

Hereafter "After Tomorrow"

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Formed in 2007, Hereafter is a Malaysian thrash metal outfit which focuses on sci-fi and extra terrestrial themes in their lyrics and an evil blend of Sodom and Megadeth in their music.

Although they had not released anything since 2012, they are one of the few thrash metal bands from Malaysia to be active both in releasing materials since their formation (before the year 2012) and are also actively playing shows throughout Malaysia and other countries.

To date, they have released 3 studio albums, a single, a demo and 2 split releases.

This shirt here is based on the band's first demo released in 2007 and I bought this shirt from the band this year (2016).

It has no back print but hey, its white and I love metal t-shirts which are coloured anything else other than the colour black.

BASIC INFO

Shirt: Hereafter "After Tomorrow"

Category: Local Malaysian band t-shirt

Subject Origin: Petaling Jaya, Selangor, Malaysia

Condition: 9/10

Back print: no

Long sleeve: no

Sleeve prints: no

Shirt status: original, released by band

Printing ink and method: rubber dye, silk screen printing

Voltan "West Malaysia Mini Tour 2011"

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Voltan. What I know about this band is they are the first band to play back and roll metal genre in Sarawak, and probably in the country.

They are from Sibu, Sarawak and they cite Satyricon and Khold as main influences for their music.

This shirt here is a rare gem as it their tour shirt. It is a mini tour shirt of theirs with only two venues in Peninsular Malaysia (also known as West Malaysia) printed on its back; one in Johor Bahru and another one in Kuala Lumpur.

I attended both shows during the time and this shirt is one of the shirts which I treasured most in my collection as I am not sure how many copies of this were printed.

BASIC INFO

Shirt: Voltan "West Malaysia Mini Tour 2011"

Category: local Malaysian band t-shirt/ local band tour t-shirt

Subject Origin: Sibu, Sarawak, Malaysia

Condition: 8/10

Back print: yes

Long sleeve: no

Sleeves print: no

Shirt status: original, released by band itself

Printing ink and method: rubber dye, silk screen

Mantak "Diabolical Psycholust"

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Now where do I start with this one here? Okay to keep it simple, no Malaysian is truly a Malaysian underground metal music follower if they don't recognise this band, Mantak.

So far they have 13 releases in their discography and 4 split releases and is currently one of the most active underground metal bands from Malaysia.

It wont be going overboard by saying that to not own anything released by Mantak is not being a Malaysian underground metal music follower, unless you have personal reasons to hate or begrudge this band,

Oh well, I was glad to own a piece of this, printed by a once prominent and defunct clothing label, as I believe this deserves a place in my collection due to the quality of this shirt, the music played by this band and their very impressive releases.

This shirt artwork was taken from their 2009 album, "Diabolical Psycholust".

BASIC INFO

Shirt: Mantak "Diabolical Psycholust"

Category: local Malaysian band

Subject Origin: Kota Kinabalu, Sabah, Malaysia

Condition: 8.5/10

Back print: yes

Long sleeve: yes

Sleeves print: yes

Shirt status: original, released by clothing label

Printing ink and method: plastisol ink screen printing

Kuching Metal Terror (White)

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Kuching Metal Terror was formed by a few youngsters living in Kuching, Sarawak in 2011. Their main purpose of creating the society was to form a brotherhood with people who share the same interest with them.

This shirt is the one and only white colour t-shirt printed by the society so far. Only 15 copies of this shirt were printed in this t-shirt's first batch and all of them were coloured black, except for this one.

They were printed in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia in 2011.

BASIC INFO

Shirt: Kuching Metal Terror

Category: Malaysian Underground Metal Society T-shirt

Subject Origin: Kuching, Sarawak, Malaysia

Condition: 7/10

Back print: yes

Long sleeve: no

Sleeves print: no

Shirt status: original, released by society

Printing ink and method: rubber dye, silk screen

Tandus "Logam Maut"

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This legendary death/ thrash metal from Johor, Malaysia originally released only one EP in the band's lifetime called Logam Maut in the year 1997.

Though their EP was released that year, I am not sure what year this shirts was released as it could be released many, many years after 1997.

Whatever it is, this one here is was released by Music Box Production, a Johor-based label which also released the band's one and only EP to date.

I stumbled upon this during one of my frequent visits to Campbell Complex, Kuala Lumpur many years ago and I made sure I took this back home the minute I saw it.

BASIC INFO

Shirt: Tandus "Logam Maut"

Category: Local Malaysian band t-shirt

Subject Origin: Johor Bahru, Johor, Malaysia

Condition: 9/10

Back print: no

Long sleeve: no

Sleeve prints: no

Shirt status: original, released by label

Printing ink and method: plastisol ink screen printing

Introduction

Hello and welcome. This is blog is created by me with the intention of making this as a diary for myself while I discuss the few shirts I have in my small collection.

My name is Matt and I am from Kuching, Sarawak, Malaysia. Before the year 2012, I used to live in the country's capital Kuala Lumpur for eight fucking years, which was also the period of time when I gathered the most of my shirts to be added into my collections.

Most of the things you see here in this blog exists from the year 2007 onward and what I have on display here are local underground metal bands, events/ gigs, label and society t-shirts as what matters most for me are underground local stuffs.

I put more emphasis on local band t-shirts, while I do enjoy displaying the imported official merchandises of well-known international bands once a while, it is the local bands t-shirts that inspired me to create this blog anyway.

Me (left) seen posing with the late Avaejee of Surrender of Divinity while wearing one of my favourite local gig t-shirts many years ago in Kuala Lumpur; RIP Avaejee.

WHY DO I BOTHER CREATING THIS BLOG AND WHAT IS THE MAIN OBJECTIVE OF CREATING IT?

I believe that there are people out there who love to display what they have for the public to see and I am one of those type of people. What ever it is, I shall treat this blog as a personal archive for me and maybe tell a few friends about it. Yes, just a few friends as this is nothing more than a personal thingy for me. Should anyone show any interest in reading the contents of this site, then I shall be grateful.

While I don't expect anyone to show interest in this blog either, I do hope there are people out there who will find this blog helpful when looking for underground metal stuffs, especially the metal scenes of Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia, Brunei and even Thailand.

My collection might not be the move extensive in Malaysia or Sarawak, but I guess since I got the interest into journaling my collections, I might as well do it... and because I like it too.

Me seen with parts of my shirt collection, hanged to dry after a flood effected my home in Kampung Tabuan Dayak, Kuching approximately 2 years before writing this. Fuck the flood.

Should there be anyone out there who wishes to reach me regarding local underground metal stuffs such as CDs shirt or other stuffs, do contact me at:

E-mail: megadeth82@gmail.com

Whatsapp: +60168908225

or just find me on Facebook. *Click on this link here to go to my Facebook profile.*