After three more studio albums – Acidity (2005), The Habit of Fire (2007), and Audible Minority (2008) – all remaining band members officially left Kekal in August 2009.

[3][4] Kekal was officially formed on 15 August 1995, by two friends, simply named under pseudonyms Yeris and Newbabe (the latter revealed years later as Newin Atmarumeksa), as a more straightforward extreme metal band.

The band was intended as a one-time project, and recruited a vocalist known simply as "Harry" to help record a four-song demo tape.

This demo began to circulate and caught the attention of future guitarist Leo, who had gained experience in a Metallica and Megadeth cover band.

[5][6][7] In June 1996, Azhar Sianturi joined Kekal and the band recorded its official demo, entitled Contra Spiritualia Nequitiae, using the songwriting and production talents of Jeff Arwadi, who was also a member of the group Inner Warfare.

[7] With the help of underground tape trading circles and local fanzines, the demo soon caught the attention of the metal scene outside Indonesia and Southeast Asia, and few record labels began offering deals.

Later that year Leo Setiawan joined the band, and in April 1997 Kekal began to record its self-produced debut album, Beyond the Glimpse of Dreams, released in 1998.

[12][13] In 2003, with the absence of Leo as a guitarist, the remaining members Jeff and Azhar Levi recorded a cover song "Dance Macabre" for a well-received Cradle of Filth tribute album entitled Covered in Filth,[15] and shortly after they released the highly progressive and experimental 1000 Thoughts of Violence which was also well received, being rated eight out of ten by Rock Hard[16] and was regarded as a highlight of the year 2003 by Powermetal.de.

[19] The success of 1000 Thoughts of Violence was followed up by a two-week European mini-tour, arranged and promoted by the band's record label in Europe at the time, Fear Dark.

An official reunion album for the band, it marked the return of Leo as well as vocal contributions from founding member Newbabe.

[28] In 2007, Jeff leaked another cover tune, "Redemption", that originally was planned as part of a Johnny Cash tribute album by Open Grave Records, a project that was ultimately shelved.

[33] He said that, as well as unspecified personal reasons, he decided to leave the band because, after being closer to nature and in a less densely populated city in Canada, he was unable to continue to make dark and angry metal music which he did in the past with Kekal.

[44] On 2 March 2011, Jeff Arwadi announced on the Kekal Facebook page that he and Leo were recording new music and said that another album would probably be released sometime in 2012.

[45] On 26 April, Jeff uploaded a music video for the song "Futuride" from the upcoming EP, which was promised to be released in July.

In addition to two stand-alone songs, the EP contained three trackings from "Tabula Rasa" made available for public use under Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial Share Alike license.

[57] In December 2016, the band announced a new album for 2018, entitled Deeper Underground, and a single, "Root of All Evil", set for release in 2017.

[17] "Psych Folk" Radio viewed the album favorably, mentioning that 1000 Thoughts of Violence "is a possibility to invite progressive rock listeners to take the challenge to open up their perspectives.

"[69] On the next album, The Habit of Fire, the band maintained its use of various music styles such as electronica, ambient, and jazz fusion,[70] but began to shed its black metal roots and introduced atmospheric soundscapes and an industrial vibe.

The reviewer, Björn Backes, made comparisons to The Prodigy and The Chemical Brothers and noted the use of "weird" arrangements, post-rock mood swings and alternative guitar sound.

[74] Sonic Seducer called the album simply avant-garde and described the band as loving triplets, polyrhythms, and complex beats.

[4] The band is also influenced by a diverse array of other music genre, including progressive rock and metal, post-rock, indie rock, hip hop, jazz, R&B, ambient, and electronica,[78] and cites numerous other musicians from within and without heavy metal as influences, including King Crimson, Camel, Rush, Chick Corea, Pat Metheny, Gary Moore, Eddie Van Halen, Deep Forest, Kitarō, Black Sabbath, Enya, Maire Brennan, Sarah McLachlan, Cocteau Twins, Savatage, Kreator, Paradise Lost, Duran Duran, U2, and Marillion.

[50] Kekal claims to have practiced anarchism since the beginning of its career, which in their own words "translates to non-hierarchical and anti-authoritarian approach to self-governing/self-managing", including voluntary contribution, free association and a strong DIY ethic.

[38][a] The band's lyrical material for the 2020 album entitled Quantum Resolution has many Gnostic Christian references from the Nag Hammadi library writings such as Gospel of Thomas, also another noncanonical scripture known as Gospel of Mary, and the recognition regarding the world and this material universe as holographic or projection.

During the 2017 interview, he considered himself as a Christian Anarchist and mentioned that he personally opposes the concept of religion, its dogma and hierarchical structure of authority within the church organization.

"[86] In one interview, Jeff clarified that for him personally, faith is something that drives the human life, and, just like diet and exercise, does not have to be associated with religion whatsoever.