Despite an appearance on Ozzfest 2007, Taipei natives Chthonic aren't widely known outside the East. Formed back in 1995, this symphonic black metal sextet weaves ancient history and legend into their lyrics and incorporate some traditional influence that really set them apart from the rest of the world's blac metal scene. Su-Nung, a member of the band, plays the erhu (or as the band refer to it, "the bloody string," so brutal), a traditional one-stringed fiddle native to China. The band's lyrics are all written in either Mandarin Chinese, Taiwanese, or Japanese.
According to Wikipedia..
"The lead vocalist, Freddy Lim, is notably active in the political scene and supports Taiwan Independence. In February 2009, Freddy Lim and Doris Yeh participated with human rights activists at the Taipei zoo panda exhibit, which symbolises China's attempts to establish soft power relations with Taiwan."
Complete with killer corpse paint and silly stage names to match, Chthonic are definitely worth a listen. With their unique Taiwanese stylings, Chthonic offer all that we know and love of Western symphonic black metal with a twist.
For fans of: Cradle of Filth, Dimmu Borgir.
Bassist Doris Yeh has also garnered some attention in American metal magazines for her bass playing and also beauty, here she is from Revolver Magazine's "Hottest Chicks in Metal."
In a recent interview conducted with The Washington Post Express, Dani "Filth" Davey addressed his forthcoming book The Gospel of Filth, which is slated for a February 28 release.
Filth: "The Gospel of Filth" is more of a foray into the darkside. It's about horror movies, childhood nightmares, esoteric England, Satanism, witchcraft, femme fatales. And it's all corroborated and substantiated — verified almost, validated. There are contributions of hundreds of different people, like [horror film director] Dario Argento, Clive Barker, Doug Bradley, [horror actress] Ingrid Pitt, Christopher Lee, Ville Valo [HIM], Tom Araya [SLAYER], Marilyn Manson, Charlie Manson, [serial killer] Richard Ramirez. It uses CRADLE OF FILTH, with each of our albums as a springboard to discuss other topics. And it was co-written with an occult historian, so what it's come out as is a dark arts bible, which is why it's taken four years to reach completion.
The following comes from Wikipedia..
According to the advance press release, the book "dissects the Satanic sources that have influenced and informed Cradle of Filth, with a roadmap to every significant landmark in the domains of darkness, including the arcane secrets of black magic, via the sexrites of vampirism. Artfully combining Hammer horror style schlock, dripping with eroticism, backed by authentic black arts info and a wicked sense of humour, this will dazzle devoted disciples of darkness. Contributors include actor Christopher Lee and SatanistAnton LaVey, serial killer expert Robert Ressler and necrophileKaren Greenlee".
The chapters as revealed so far are: "Esoteric England"; "The Black Arts"; "The Femme Fatale"; "Dark Fairy Tales"; "Gothic Romanticism"; "The Mythology of Murder"; "Horror Film and Fiction"; "Deviance and Desire"; "Demonic Doctrines" and "Oblivion".
Sounds like this Gospel should be quite a crazy read.
Yesterday after looking into Karen Greenlee (I thought, she can't possibly be a necropheliac for real right? Wrong), I stumbled upon this interview in which she speaks about her necrophilic tendencies. Be forewarned however, it is pretty disconcerting.
The release of God Forbid's Earthblood this Tuesday begs the question, why aren't God Forbid fucking huge right now? Despite experiencing moderate success, God Forbid somehow manage to evade the limelight. Well they can run, but they certainly can't hide for long, especially after the release of this, their latest effort.
In a genre not always known for its abundance of African American participants, God Forbid have always jokingly touted themselves as, "true black metal." All joking aside, this album sees a fair amount of black metal influence, especially on tracks like "The Rain." It also boasts the perfect balance of earthshaking low-end and melodic guitar work, not to mention some thunderous drumming from Corey Pierce.
God Forbid also does singing/screaming right, with the clean vocals of the Coyle brothers contrasting well against the bellowing roar of Byron Davis, while not coming off as whiny or emo. From the bleak-sounding classical intro of "The Discovery" to the last notes of "Gaia," Earthsblood is a solid album from start to finish.
The only noticable low on this album is "Walk Alone," which while not completely terrible, sticks out like a sore thumb against the other nine tracks. Saturated with 80s sleaze and swagger this track is trying too hard to be a some type of bastard rock anthem. All things considered, Earthsblood is God Forbid's best work to date. This is a band at their peak, an album definitely worth your ten bucks.
For fans of: Arch Enemy, Unearth, Lamb of God, Dimmu Borgir.
A new single from Italian goth-metallers Lacuna Coil called "Spellbound" has just hit the airwaves.
Their upcoming album Shallow Life is being produced by Don Gilmore (of Avril Lavigne, Lit, and Duran Duran fame) and is supposed to showcase some Arabic influence.
My thoughts: Boy does this sound poppy to start off. Cristina Scabbia is still the saving grace of this band, without her they would be nothing. This song is all about the chorus, other than that its pretty mundane. Despite being pretty average, I still can't get enough of Cristina's voice.
Under the hand of Gilmore, and now touring with bands like Disturbed it seems like Lacuna Coil are taking a turn for the more commercial, and that's the vibe I'm getting from this track. I guess I'll have to wait and see what the rest of Shallow Life has to offer.
Richmond's metal monsters Lamb of God have unleashed their wrath on the world once again with their aptly titled new album Wrath, which hit shelves this Tuesday. Hailed by many as the flagship band of the New Wave of American Heavy Metal (NWOAHM), their fifth studio album has been highly anticipated by many fans the world over, and now that the band have established themselves as a mainstay of the arena circuit, expectations for Wrath have been substantially high.
The album opens with the calm acoustics of "The Passing," which echoes Master of Puppets-era Metallica before delivering a swift kick to the nuts in typical Lamb of God fashion with "In Your Words," a thrasher which sets the heart-pounding pace for the rest of the album. "Set To Fail" keeps the blood pumping with an opening arsenal of blast beats before dropping off into a hooky riff that seems to sink itself into your ears. "Contractor" is a blistering auditory assault that puts the speed in speed metal; it also offers a refreshing breakdown that separates Lamb of God from the rest of the chug-chug flock.
"Fake Messiah" is as explosive as its counterparts but somehow gets lost in the shuffle and fails to make much of a lasting impact on the ears save perhaps its repetitious chorus. "Grace" opens with an angelic guitar intro and then breaks into a riff that someone clearly sold their soul to the devil to get their hands on. It also features a solo from guitarist Mark Morton, which were much more of a hot commodity on the band's last effort, Sacrament. "Broken Hands" features one of the more memorable choruses on the album and "Dead Seeds" features an equally striking chorus that is dripping with groove, both of which should prove fan favorites in concert. "Everything to Nothing," is the quintessential Lamb of God song with its groove-laden chorus and all-out thrash verses. "Choke Sermon," which sounds like it could be a b-side from Ashes of the Wake is yet another straight-up Lamb of God track guaranteed to get some heads banging.
Finally, "Reclamation" is a whiskey-soaked anthem with plenty of blues flair. It opens with some dark and foreboding acoustic guitar before crescendoing into a whirlwind of screams from D. Randall Blythe. It weaves in and out between dark acoustics and pummeling metal for its duration, all the while set to the misanthropic words of Blythe, "Humanity's a failed experiment, walking the path to extinction spinning its wheels endlessly." He continues to spout his apocalyptic heresy like a snarling wolf until the album ends with the sound of white noise, a fitting finale to compliment the song's lyrical sentiment.
Generally speaking, Wrath throws polish to the wind, opting rather for grit and balls. It revels in reality and imperfection, and doesn't try to pass itself off as anything more than that. It may score points with fans of the the band's earlier albums, as Lamb of God have taken a bare-bones approach with Wrath, which still allows some breathing room for experimentation with things like new acoustic elements. Now more than ever, Blythe proves to be a vocal powerhouse. In all his guttural glory he employs some new twists on his screaming and shows how his vocals continue to progress.
Morton's bluesy shredding was a highlight on Sacrament and while his guitar solos still rip just as hard on Wrath, they are scarce and usually short-lived. Despite offering plenty of speed, Wrath leaves some shred to be desired. John Campbell's four strings are much more prominent on Wrath than on albums past, and for the better, bringing a fuller sound to the album that makes for a solid wall of sound. Track by track there isn't much to complain about on Wrath, but as an album it can seem a little redundant. That being said, Lamb of God aren't trying to be America's next prog-rock superstars. They know what they do, and they do it well. When it comes to their brand of raw in-your-face "pure American metal," this Virginia foursome know how to deliver.
So this is it... the blog with the most epic name in all of the interwebz. I plan to keep this pretty informal for the time being, I'll post music reviews and such, but also just thoughts on life and even some occasional angst-laden poetry? We'll see what ends up on here as it comes I suppose, probably an eclectic collection of things plucked from my brain. Until next time,
