The first time I heard of Chthonic was when I saw them at Ozzfest in 2007. After seeing that they had an erhu (a Chinese 2-string violin), that they were from Taipei, Taiwan,
and that they fought for human rights and Taiwanese independence from
China, I have never forgotten them.
They are a driven and impressive
group - they were the first asian metal band ever to play at Ozzfest,
they have been banned in parts of China for their political views, and
they have also met with the Dalai Lama as a part of their human rights
endeavors. Even though their music is more brutal than stuff I normally
listen to, I am a sucker for bands with political motives, girl
musicians, and ethnic instruments. It didn't hurt, too, that I am
half-Taiwanese. They have very interesting corpse paint, which they call
"ghost paint," (not pictured above) which actually corresponds to
symbols and curses in Chinese mythology. They are a band which has a
deep concept behind their musics, which is something I really
appreciate.
They consider themselves an extreme metal band because their lyrics don't really fit into the black metal scene, but musically they have a very black metal
sound. They utilize high screams, low grunts, fast tempos, eerie
keyboard sounds and sometimes haunting choirs and female vocals. They
even incorporate some thrash influences on their newest album, Mirror of Retribution.
As far as lyrics go, they sing about oriental mythology of the
underworld, ghost stories, tragedies, and the oppression and colonialism
of Taiwan. (A word of warning, their lyrics can be very brutal)
Now,
I don't know much about the erhu except that it's awesome. Chthonic
used to have an erhu player named Su-Nung (pictured), but he left in
2009 and now the erhu is played by singer Freddy Lim. In their music,
the erhu plays mournful melodies behind the heavy guitars and screaming,
and sometimes plays traditional folk tunes.
While this is not a
violin, I feel like the erhu melodies could be easily adapted on the
violin. It's also a unique style of playing, and a good reference for
metal violinists who are looking to add an asian feel to their music.
Valkyre is a symphonic gothic metal band from Belgium and France. They
are still unsigned, with only 2 demos out: "Consolamentum" and "On Both
Sides We Pray." Unfortunately, it is hard to find most their music, as
there are only three recordings available on their Myspace.
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