Altera Enigma is the Jazz Fusion influenced Progressive Metal/Rock band of Jason De Ron (the former guitarist of Paramaecium), and Jefray Arwadi (guitarist and vocalist of Kekal). Both these musicians have a career that has seen them record and released nearly 20 albums between them.

While both Jason and Jeff may be more well known for their metal, with Paramaecium and Kekal having both released many critically acclaimed albums of intense, evocative metal, in actual fact both musicians are heavily influenced by Jazz and Progressive music in all it's forms.

Altera Enigma was formed as an outlet for Jason and Jeff to work together on music that would push their boundaries, challenge them musically and allow them to broaden their horizons and explore progressive music in all it's forms. The addition of Kenny Cheong in 2005, a Jazz Fusion bassist who plays a 5 string fretless, allowed Altera Enigma to further develop their Jazz Fusion influences and develop their signature sound. 2007 saw the addition of Jayson Sherlock on drums.

Altera Enigma is currently:

Jason De Ron: Guitars, Keyboards, Samples

Former guitarist with the Doom Death band Paramaecium.

Jason began playing guitar in 1987 after hearing a guitar solo by Dave Murray of Iron Maiden, and joined Paramaecium in 1992. Jason first met Andrew Tompkins in a cemetery one night in 1991. He was there with Mosh (Colin Mynard) who was a friend of his, and Paramaecium’s original guitarist. They were there to photograph the grave for the cover of the Silent Carnage demo.

Jason got to know Andrew further when he attended a Paramaecium rehearsal as they prepared for an upcoming gig with Mortification. That same night Jason also met Jayson Sherlock and the two have remained close friends ever since.When Mosh left Paramaecium in 1992, Andrew spoke to Jason about joining, and after a few meetings and songwriting sessions, they knew it would work. From there they began writing for what would become the album "Exhumed of the Earth". Jason recorded the albums "Exhumed of the Earth", "Within the Ancient Forest", the EP "Repentance" and has added some guitar to the newest Paramaecium album "Echoes from the Ground". Along with Andrew, Jason transcribed all the music from the first two Paramaecium albums for the music scores. Visit the Official Paramaecium Web Site.

He has also played in the progessive metal band Soundscape with former Paramaecium/Mortification drummer Jayson Sherlock. His influences include musicians like Larry Carlton, Chick Corea, Dave Weckl, Miles Davis, John Coltrane, Wes Montgomery, Scott Henderson, Simon Phillips and Joe Satriani to name a few.

Jeff Arwadi: Guitars, Vocals

The guitarist, vocalist and songwriter with the progressive black metal band Kekal. Jeff started to play music back in 1989 when he was 15 years old. He began by playing guitar, and actually couldn't play metal riffs yet. In 1990, with his high-school friends, he formed his own band. It was a totally primitive punkish thrash metal band called Obliteration, who just wanted to play fast and extreme metal, and was influenced by early Black Meta/Thrash bands such as Hellhammer, early Sodom, and Bathory. He was playing bass, but quickly changed to drums.

He still could not play metal guitar techniques like palm-muting, etc. He decided to quit this band in 1991, and spend time learning the guitar more seriously. In 1992 he bought his first electric guitar and joined a band called Sonic Warfare, which later changed it's name to Inner Warfare. This was Jeff's first serious band; Inner Warfare wrote their own music, played shows, and also recorded some demos. Inner Warfare disbanded in 1997. Jeff officially joined Kekal in 1996, although he was involved with the band since it formation.

Kekal have releases 5 full-length albums,("Beyond the Glimpse of A Dream", "Embrace The Dead", "The Painful Experience", "1000 Thoughts Of Violence"), An Official Demo ("Contra Spiritualia Nequitiae") and a split release with Slechtvalk ("Chaos And Warfare"). Kekal have also released "Spirits From The Ancient Days", which is a collection of early demo recordings. Their latest studio album "Acidity" was released in 2005. Jeff also owns and runs Vision Studios in Jakarta and in addition to his musical responsibilities in Kekal engineers and produces their albums. Visit the Official Kekal website .

Kenny Cheong: Bass

Kenny started bass playing at the age of 15 due to necessity rather than interest. That grew very quickly after hearing the likes Jaco Pastorius, John Patitucci, Marcus Miller and Victor Wooten, all huge early influences. He started by playing a five string tenor bass (without the low-B, add high-C), quickly moved on to the six string.

Kenny currently listens to a wide variety of music like James Brown, Tower of Power, Chick Corea, Miles Davis, Jing Chi, Dream Theatre, Greenday; basically anything that has a pulse and grooves. Apart from bass playing, Kenny is a big fan of audio equipment, enjoys watching movies and driving to different places in Australia.

Jayson Sherlock: Drums

Picture coming soon . . .