BLAST FROM THE PAST:2nd Album SRIKANDI DI SISI

Originally the cover design was by our WAZZU mate Zulqaisar with a different color scheme inspired by the works of illustrator Patrick Nagel, known for his illustration for Playboy magazine who also did the cover for DuranDuran RIO album. This is how it turns out after we passed the original design to our record company : p

SriKandi Di Sisi Originally uploaded by Sutra.

After the success and good feedback with the college crowd, hope was high when the band went into the studio to record their second album in 1988. Again, the recording was at Lion Studio, Singapore. This time the album was produced by Belantara themselves. The band was looking to produced a heavier sounding album with the opening track Amaran!!! - Perintah Berkurung a thrash metal influenced song. Next is a ballad Sri Kandi Di Sisi, followed by Panglima Angkasa a hard rock number heavy on the guitar tapping technique. the song is a tribute to the Air Force Fighter pilots. During this period, the movie Top Gun made quite an impression. There are love ballads such as Hadiah Hari Jadi, but a few others slow numbers were not love theme. For example, Pelangi dan Nafiri -- spiritually theme while Cubaan Bukan Satu is about hope and "not giving up when one is down". Other notably songs includes Menari Dalam Hujan, Biar Rindu, Mutiara. The final track is Cempaka and instrumental song which originally was scrapped but made into the album (the 1 minute version).

After the released of the album, the band did performed once -- live at Komtar Dome, Penang in 1988. A few of the northern rock fans might have caught the concert, especially the students from USM. For the show the band engaged a drummer and another guitarist --- Nen and Shidee --- who also appear in the music videos Srikandi di Sisi, Menari Dalam Hujan for TV3 MusikMusik. The group parted ways with Nen and Shidee after Aziz and Zaid left for US for their final year.