Veteran Taiwanese metal legends Chthonic (閃靈) returns with their new album ‘Battlefields of Asura’ (政治) after five long but eventful years for the band. From vocalist Freddy Lim (林昶佐) taking Taiwanese office representing the New Power Party (NPP) that he helped found and the band filmed their very own movie Tshiong, the band did not release much more music aside from some minor releases and a cool acoustic album. Being one of the biggest, oldest, and most successful metal bands of East Asia, Chthonic is integral to the East Asian scene for not only their influence but also for their status as a band that prompts listeners to explore more East Asian metal. Chthonic’s musical influence spreads far and wide for being one of the first extreme metal acts to integrate East Asian folk music and instruments into their sound. The band’s most recent album ‘Bú-Tik’ (武徳) received critical claim and showed the band mastering their newfound sound that they were developing since 2009’s ‘Mirror of Retribution’. Within the past five years, East Asian folk influenced extreme metal had a relatively big surge of releases from bands like Taiwan’s Bloody Tyrant (暴君), China’s Black Kirin (黑麒), Finland’s Whispered, and new bands like China’s 迷魂殿, Hong Kong’s XieJia (卸甲), and Latvia’s Yomi. With all of this, how does Chthonic’s new album compare?
The first thing I noticed about this album was the production. Fans, don’t worry. The album’s production doesn’t sound like those of the singles; it’s just as hard hitting and crisp as their previous album. However, the production on ‘Battlefields of Asura’ is more balanced as not only the vocals are a little further up in the mix but the keyboards are especially higher and more apparent. This brings out more of the folk instruments and symphonics without dominating the soundscape. The production is definitely reminiscent of those of some Finnish melodic death metal bands like Kalmah, Mors Principium Est, and Omnium Gatherum. As a result, the overarching folk melodies and symphonics are more of the focus of this album.
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Like ‘Bú-Tik’, ‘Battlefields of Asura’ starts and ends with instrumental tracks. The opening song of the album, “The Silent One’s Touch” (昭應) is energetic and relentless and sets up what you can expect from the album, triumphant and moving keyboard and folk melodies over the energetic rumble of guitars, bass, and drums which reminds me of Whispered. CJ Kao’s (高嘉嵘) increased keyboard presence on the album provides the melodic character of the sound which provides versatility and dynamicism. The song “Flames Upon The Weeping” (天誅) uses the keyboards as fast orchestral passages emanating guitars while the song “A Crimson Sky’s Command” (真武) uses the keyboards in a more emotional way, drenched in East Asian melodic sensibilities.
‘Battlefields of Asura’s usage of keyboard is a return to an older sound from ‘Mirror Of Retribution’ and ‘Seediq Bale’ but the band is able to integrate that sound into their current sound framework established through ‘Bú-Tik’. The swelling symphonics return as they fly over the melodic death metal base with their triumphant melodies and provides a highlighted symphonic and folk black feel similar to Black Kirin’s ‘Nanking Massacre’ (金陵祭). The whole album is filled with these various melodic personalities brought by the keyboards and folk instrumentation which plays a huge role in the foundation of the album’s sound as they often are the captivating melodies listeners would remember or move along to.
With the huge shift to an emphasis in the keyboards, the guitars are not lost as the album still provides some great guitar work. Songs like “The Silent One’s Touch”, “Souls of the Revolution” (失落的令旗), and “One Thousand Eyes” (合掌) still display some of their melodic death metal guitar work. The solos on this album are no pushovers either. From the more technical solowork on “Millennia’s Faith Undone” (烏牛欄大護法) and “One Thousand Eyes” to the more emotional ones of “A Crimson Sky’s Command” and “Taste the Black Tears” (千歲), Jesse Liu (刘笙汇) does a great job in his playing. Dani Wang’s (汪子骧) drumming provides a nice layer of drumwork that can either bring out the needed energy and pace that helps keep the songs rushing forward or play more of a supporting role that allows the other voices to take the spotlight. The drumming on this album is what you would expect from the band, a series of good performances. The basswork on this album is hard to comment on as the bass is the hardest instrument to pick out but Doris Yeh’s (葉湘怡) playing adds depth and crunch to the sound which helps round the sound more, like in the song “Millennia’s Faith Undone”. Freddy Lim gives some of his best and versatile vocal performances on this album as there are a lot of vocals and vocal styles on this album.
Aside from the beyboard presence, the band experimented with some new ideas. Vocally, the band experimented with vocal effects (on the track “Flames Upon the Weeping”), percussive chanting (on the track “One Thousand Eyes”), and Ensiferum-esque choruses (on the track “Carved in Bloodstone”/鑒國). On the instrumental track “Masked Faith” (一念無名), the band explores ethereal guitar-keyboard soundscapes along the lines of psychedelic rock and psychedelic folk which was a nice a surprise. Like ‘Bú-Tik’s “Defenders of Bú-Tik Palace” (暮沉武德殿), ‘Battlefields of Asura’s closing song “Millennia’s Faith Undone” features a guest appearance from HOCC (Denise Ho, 何韻詩), a Cantopop singer, actress, and activist from Hong Kong, who provides some excellent vocals that add to the emotionality of the music as her voice mimics the symphonic instrumentation which adds another layer of melody and harmony.
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Where can the band go from here? My only issue with this album is how absent the bass is from the overall sound. I would love to see more bass involved in the melodies and harmonies and be more forward in the mix. I am also hoping to see the band continue venturing out (eg. using the clean vocals from the acoustic album and briefly from “Millennia’s Faith Undone”), experiment with new sounds (maybe the ethereal/psychedelic sounds of “Masked Faith”), and explore new traditional instruments like the Dizi (笛子, Chinese Flute).
‘Battlefields of Asura’ is a worthy successor to their previous album Bú-Tik as Chthonic masterfully combines the sounds of old and new into a an excellent symphonic/melodic death metal album. The album highlights the band’s East Asian folk influences with strong melodies that add character, emotion, and personality. Fans of the band, both new and old, should find enjoyment with this album as it may be their best album yet.