A few years back, an emerging metal trio named Voice of Baceprot became an Internet sensation with videos of themselves covering the likes of Slipknot and Rage Against the Machine. They went viral less for their choice of tunes and more for who and where they were—vocalist and guitarist Firda Marsya Kurnia, bassist Widi Rahmawati, and drummer Euis Siti Aisyah were teenage girls from a conservative Muslim village in rural Indonesia, and they played in hijab.
According to outdated stereotypes about who metal musicians are “supposed to be,” VoB are just a novelty, but the band’s musical prowess and politically charged lyrics loudly assert their bona fides. Their first original single, 2018’s “School Revolution,” weighs freedom and individualism against dogmatic teachings. And “[Not] Public Property,” the first track they wrote without Erza’s assistance, champions bodily autonomy and denounces violence against women.
VoB’s growing fan base includes heavyweights such as Tom Morello and Slash, and they’ve landed slots at major festivals, including Wacken Open Air in 2022. But every success has been hard-won. Though metal is relatively mainstream in Indonesia—in 2014 the country elected the world’s first self-proclaimed metalhead president, Joko Widodo—VoB have faced sexism in their scene, and the very existence of the band is considered radical by some conservative Muslims.