I think someone had made a thread about ChthoniC a while back, but it's long dead, and I assume this thread will soon go under within the next few days as well. But I figured I might as well give it a try and see if I can get at least a response or two.

So...anyone listen to them? In case you don't know (which I'm assuming most of you don't; Metal doesn't seem to be recieved well on AF in general ) Anthelion and ChthoniC are Taiwanese Black Metal bands who are recieving a lot of attention lately (well, at least ChthoniC), whether it be because of their particular genre, their look, or -in ChthoniC's case - their outspoken views on the whole China-Taiwan debate. Well, regardless of their political point of view, I find both bands' music to be fu-king awesome. Finally, we see some quality Asian Metal come from somewhere other than Japan. And props to ChthoniC being the first Asian band in general to play at Ozzfest.

Anthelion


Anthelion - Tomb of Broken Souls

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uH5uhieTZ2E

ChthoniC


ChthoniC - Quasi-Putrefaction

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Co8Zyop_1U

I'd love to see more Chinese/Taiwanese Metal bands recieving some attention, whether they be Black Metal, Death Metal, Thrash Metal, Power Metal, etc. Chances of that happening any time soon seems slim though, since Chinese/Taiwanese media seems so focused on the teeny bop bubblegum pop music or hip hop and R&B. Still, ChthoniC and Anthelion are taking it into the right direction, especially with CthoniC trying to appeal to a wider audience around the world by touring in the U.S. and Europe.

So...Love it? Hate it? Let me hear what you think.

I'm going off the limb here but the guy with the face mask spikes is the drummer?

Indeed. Good guess.

Anthelion sounds a lot like symphonic black metal to me (duh). Not bad...as with all other symph bm bands, I like how the keyboards add atmosphere to the already dark and melancholic sounds of the genre. Not a big fan of the female vocals in the background though. They distract me from the guitars, which are one of the most important instruments in a song. Overall I'd say they're a decent band, and I think I would love them if bm was my favorite genre instead of dm. Oh, and like ChristopherRodrigues said, they do sound a lot like Dimmu.

For the second video, I think I was paying more attention to calligraphy than the actual song, trying to make some sense out of it all lol. The song itself was almost perfect, except being interrupted by talking every 15 seconds. Very dark and creepy. The guitar and keyboards combined sounded marvelous. The female voice kind of blends in with the instruments and was actually tolerable. It's actually rare that I enjoy a black metal song as much as this one. I just have one question: What's the song about? Are the people talking Taiwanese aborigines? I know there's a story behind it, I just don't understand what it's about.

Yeah, Anthelion does sound a bit like Dimmu Borgir, though as someone had commented before, the vocalist does sound a bit like Danny Filth from Cradle of Filth.

As for the story behind the video, as far as I can tell I think it has something to do with Taiwanese aborigines fighting against Japanese troops during Japan's occupation of Taiwan. And yeah, the random dialogue of the native tongue of the aborigines kinda kills the mood, but there's none of that on the actual album. I think their guitarist, Jesse, is actually half (or maybe even full) Taiwanese aboriginal.

metal rock won't be popular in taiwan.

and i'm not a fan of metal rock either. it is too devilist and bad for young people.

hmm, not my kinda music >_>

ChthoniC is a radical pro-TI band. Listened to a couple of songs... eh.

I realize that it'll probably never gain a substantial audience in the mainstream, but then again, Black Metal has never really been mainstream at all. It's got quite the fanbase underground though, in both Taiwan and China, and its growing.

And I hope you're not generalizing all Metal as "devilist." Keep in mind that a lot of it is mainly for shock value. Besides, I'm a young person who loves Metal and I think of myself as a decent person.



I figured you wouldn't. Fair enough.



I know. Personally I could care less what their political views are, so long as they keep pumping out, in my opinion, good music.

Unfortunately I'm very interested in Chinese politics; therefore ChthoniC is banned from my iPod

lol. Well, I'm not about to question your stance on the subject. I had a somewhat similar gripe with this genre actually, since some of the European Black Metal bands are truly Satanic and anti-Christian (I'm not talking about shock value here; some of these musicians have been involved in crimes such as murder and church burnings)...but after a while I got over it. For me, lyrics and idealogy will always take second place to the actual music itself. I think Tom Araya of Slayer (of all people) said it best:

"People are not in good shape to where they have to question their own belief system because of a book or a story somebody wrote, or a Slayer song."

Besides, its not as if I can actually understand half the stuff being growled out here.