Rich (vocals)

Din Hormatov (rhythm guitar)

Nor Hanafi (lead guitar)

Azwin Andy (drums)

The first single off the second album titled “Yang Pernah” talks about the past and of how things that should have & could have been done. The music video was shot by Singaporean Karen Cai in her homeland and is a performance based video. It involved a lot of mirrors in the shots as Karen wanted to relate to the meaning of the song as mirrors represents reflections of life. This was followed by the second single “Aurora” where it tells the story of the band’s fascination of the night sky or rather the phenomenon. The video was directed by Rewan Ishak, a talented Malaysian which integrated shots of green screen and graphics into the video. The video tells the story of a young man in the year 1959 of his fascination with the aurora. With the help of his scientist friends, he manages to get a glimpse of the aurora as he travels through the parallel universe witnessing the happening of the aurora 50 years in the future. The band members played these characters.

The music seems to have matured more from the first album “In Hating Memory” but yet, still carrying the “Estranged” sound which combines elements of nu-metal, alternative rock, hard rock, and even grunge. The band pretty much leaves the labelling of their genre to their fans as they never want to limit their sound. Front man Rich says “We’re always looking for a new sound that brings fresh life to the music industry and we never want to be limited when it comes to making music.”

Back to Jan 2008, the band had recently won the biggest music award in Malaysia titled Anugerah Juara Lagu (Best song award), and from then on, the band started getting a lot of attention which also opened up the mainstream listeners to other independent bands. Estranged won the award with their biggest hit to date “Itu Kamu”, but the guys knew they had to move on as they didn’t want to be known for just one song. Vocalist Rich, rhythm guitarist Din Hormatov, lead guitarist Nor Hanafi, drummer Azwin Andy and with the help of Ken Chung on bass (the band is still currently looking for a permanent bass player) got into the studios in Feb 2008 and completed the recording sessions in about 4 months. Thus, Remain Unknown was made.

In October 2008, Estranged released their sophomore album titled “Remain Unknown”. This album consists of 8 English tracks and 5 tracks in Malay. It features hits such as “Yang Pernah”, “Aurora”, “In No Time”, “The Slave in us” and many more. This time around, the band decided to go a little more deep in the sense that the music was inspired by the problems in life that one would go through as a Malaysian, as a person, as a citizen of the world with such problems like the environment, the political situation in Malaysia, the social issues such as child kidnappings that shook the entire nation. The album kicks off with a build up guitars for the song “This world” which was inspired by the wreckage of nature happening around the world, followed by the energetic “Yang Pernah”. The ever so melodic tunes of the band continues with “Masa” and quickly changed into a heavy headbanging riff on “In No Time” which always never fails to keep the crowd moving during the band’s live sets. A good example of description of the songs would be the concept of the album cover. The band decided to go with a more meaningful image where the front cover pictures an “orang asli“ (native man) standing before his village where it is currently beneath water due to discrimination and ignorance. The tribesmen were robbed of their land as there was a need for building of a dam. Due to the construction, the government had to reposition them to higher grounds and putting them into modern day houses, where the natives still find it difficult to adapt. Such fact remains unknown to the masses.

Adding major festivals such as Soundrenaline (Indonesia) and Sunburst (Malaysia) in their gig list, you can expect the band to explore further into other countries in the coming years. Having impressed many with their direction, music videos and also live performances, the band has got a goal to promote and improve the Malaysian music industry with the intention to be one of Malaysia’s finest rock acts.

Some of the band’s recognized shows.

Rock the World 4 – 2003

MTV’s Search for Linkin Park – 2003

Asian X-Games – 2004

AXN – 2003 & 2005

8TV’s late night talk show Latte@8 – 2004

Hitz.tv’s birthday bash – 2005 & 2006

Konsert Gemilang Anugerah Era – 2006

Rock the World 7 – 2006

Hot FM Big Jam Kuala Lumpur – 2007

Konsert Akademi Fantasia Season 5 Episode 5 – 2007

MTV LIVE with Good Charlotte – 2007

Anugerah Planet Muzik 2007

Festival Muzik Borneo 2007

Hot FM’s Mini Jam Tours 2007

8TV’s Campus Tours 2007

Anugerah Juara Lagu ke-22 2008

Sunburst KL International Music Festival 2008

A Mild Live Soundrenaline (Pekan Baru & Medan, Indonesia) 2008

HP My Personal Touch Showcase (Headliner) 2008

Anugerah Juara Lagu ke-23 2009

Recognition

-Nominated for the “Favourite Local English Artiste” at the Anugerah Era 2006

-Won the “Favourite Local English Artiste” at the Anugerah Era 2006

-Nominated for two categories (Best Rock & Best Video) at the Hitz.fm Malaysian English Top 10 Awards 2006

- Won the “Best Rock” category at the Hitz.fm’s Malaysian English Top 10 Awards 2006

- Won the “Best Video” category at the Hitz.fm’s Malaysian English Top 10 Awards 2006

- Nominated for the “Favourite Rock Band” category at the Anugerah Era 2007

- Nominated for the “Favourite Rock Hit” category at the Anugerah Era 2007

- Finalists for “Anugerah Juara Lagu ke-22” under the Pop/Rock category 2008

- Won the “Pop/Rock Category” at the Anugerah Juara Lagu ke-22 2008

- Won the “Best Song Award” at the Anugerah Juara Lagu ke-22 2008

- Won the “Most Popular Group” category at the Anugerah Planet Muzik 2008

- Won the “Most Popular Song” category at the Anugerah Planet Muzik 2008

- Nominated for the “Best New Artiste” category at the Anugerah Industri Muzik ke -15 2008

- Nominated for the “Song of the Year” category at the Anugerah Industri Muzik ke – 15 2008

- Won the “Best Rock Song” at the Voize Independent Music Awards 2009

- Won the “Most Mind Blowing Music Video”category at the Voize Independent Music Awards 2009

- Won 3^rd place under the “Best Rock Group” category at the Voize Independent Music Awards 2009

- Finalists for “Anugerah Juara Lagu ke-23” under the Pop/Rock category 2009