Greetings, typophiles. Prepare to point your culture compass to Bandung, the capital of West Java, and home to bands like Cherry Bombshell, Sonic Torment, and Burgerkill. Why? Because Java's thriving underground music scene is the inspiration behind Bandung Hardcore, a font filled with head-banging attitude from Indonesian designer Gilang Purnama.

Gilang Purnama knows his audience. Bandung Hardcore is a traditional slab serif, but styled for a night of thrash club culture. Its gritty, rubbed-off texture and rugged all-caps styling carry just the right amount of street vibe. The font plays best at sizes 48 point and up; lower than 48 and its textures become muddy and lose their edge.

Bandung Hardcore has no lowercase. Hey, who whispers in a mosh pit? What this font does have is a full set of numerals, punctuation essentials, an @ sign that will not be messed with, and an ampersand poised for action. Extra points to the designer for letting the texture vary from character to character, giving any word they form a stunning graphic quality. The L could use a lighter touch. The hardcore staple word Hell, for instance, prints out of balance. Also some letter pairs require personal attention to prevent words breaking up visually--but no matter, we can still set the words SMASH U in a fashion that broadcasts our alma mater.

If you're not musically inclined there's nothing to stop you from taking Bandung Hardcore for a ride in another direction, say over to the stadium for some head-banging of another sort. Slab serifs are a traditional choice for sports jerseys, team logos, and game-day graphics. This font does the job like a veteran of the field. However you play Bandung Hardcore, keep it personal. This download is licensed for noncommercial use only. You'll find the designer's signature by typing ^, so give credit where credit is due.

Cross-cultural, power-packed, and from the heart, Gilang Purnama's Bandung Hardcore rocks for heavy metal songbirds and hard-charging fans of the fifty-yard dash, all ready to rumble.

Note: To use this font, unzip the folder and install the .otf file in the folder C:\Windows\Fonts. Note that the font won't appear in your applications until you close and re-open them.

--Kate Godfrey