You're in Taiwan, browsing through CDs to kill time, when you come across one that can only be metal - blood red characters, a logo that looks even more indecipherable than normal Chinese, a dark, brooding colour scheme, and violent graphics. You buy it, take it home, put it on, and suddenly your being assaulted by blast beats, tremolo guitar riffs, unmistakably black metal screams, all blended with traditional Taiwanese music through the plaintive tone of the erhu. Well done, you've just bought an album by the biggest Taiwanese metal band Chthonic.
In Taiwan, many people have a "Chinese name" written in Chinese characters, and an "English name" which is supposedly easier for non-Chinese speakers to pronounce. Taiwan's most famous metal band have taken a different approach though. Their Chinese name is 閃靈 , pronounced "shan ling" - fairly easy for most people to pronounce I think - but not so their English name, which is hard to say without showering your listener with saliva: Chthonic. Apparently this is an actual word, coming from Greek and is some kind of adjective to do with dieties, so it might appropriate.
Despite their name and the tiny size of the scene they spring from, Chthonic are a damn good black metal band. I've read a quite few reviews that compare them to Cradle of Filth, but this seems unfair. As far as I can tell, these comparisons seem to be based on them a) being a metal band and b) using keyboards. I actually quite like Cradle of Filth, but even they don't define themselves as black metal, and Chthonic to me at least fall very firmly at the black end of the metal spectrum. There is no gothic feel to the music, or vampire erotica in the artwork, image or lyrics, all of which are more serious (without disappearing up their own arses). In fact, there is one well known BM band that uses keyboards whose influence I can hear - Emperor.
In interviews it's become clear that their main metal influences are indeed in Scandinavia rather than Birmingham, but unlike many bands around the world they've looked deeper into the general feel, lyrics and philosophy of the original BM circle. Despite an alarming number of missionaries here, Taiwan's culture has not been oppressed or even just apparently oppressed by Christianity, so Chthonic have realised that singing about Satan or Norse gods would be completely irrelevant here. Taiwanese aboriginal culture has to an extent been repressed, but it has also been absorbed into the Confucian-Taoist-Buddhist combination that is the religion of most people both in mainland China and Taiwan.
So Chthonic draw from their native religion, writing songs about the gods, hells, demons and legends of Taiwan. I'm not sure how good the original lyrics sound in Chinese when not being screamed, but translated they read no more ridiculous than other black metal, much less ridiculous than most, and actually keep to a theme quite well.
Their image has also been influenced this way. They don't just wear the old corpse paint, but "ghostpaint" originally based their look on various demons of the 8 generals of Taoist hell, though they seem to have morphed away from this to include a guy with no face and a goth girl Doris the bassist who has been rather popular at photo shoots on their recent world tour. At gigs, you bring "ghost money" (paper money normally burnt to honour ancestors) and through it on stage or up in the air at key moments in the songs.
And then there is the music itself, which as well as great heavy riffs, also has traditional instruments and music layered over the top or in fills between tracks, most prominently the erhu, a two stringed instrument played with a bow. I've heard some reviews of early albums I have yet to hear that questioned how well this was done, but to my ears on the latest, "Mirror of Retribution", it works very well, though it would be good to hear even more, and instruments other than the erhu. I'd particularly like to hear the crazy cacophany of drums and symbols that accompany many celebrations here, from festivals to funerals, somehow used in metal, as I think it could sound awesome.
In looking from something kind of oppression to rebel against, Chthonic have also, like some European BM bands, found a political cause, although thankful not quite as moronic, obnoxious, vile and reactionary as the white supremacists in some of my favourite bands. The lead singer Freddy in particular has been very outspoken in favour of Taiwanese independence from mainland China at gigs, in interviews, in press releases, and even lecture tours.
If you don't know about the China/Taiwan issue, this may be a little hard to understand, but here's a brief summary of the history: mainland China was declared a republic in 1911,and then decended into civil war which continued into and beyond the Second World War. Taiwan meanwhile was under (comparatively benign) Japanese occupation from 1897 until the end of the Second World War when it was handed over to China. On the mainland, the civil war was now between the Communists and the Nationalists of the KMT, but the latter were losing badly and had to retreat to Taiwan, clashing with those who already lived there.
Now, the mainland still claims Taiwan as a rebelious part of the People's Republic of China, while Taiwan is officially the free are of the Republic of China, but there is a growing tendency calling for it to declare its independence. If it ever does, China will probably invade, and despite not recognising the ROC, the US is bound to defend it. So that's what it's all about. Personally I don't agree with either side, but it is nice to have a black metal band that isn't just going "oh satan" or "kill the Jews".
Politics aside, maybe due to the tiny size of the metal scene here even with growing international success they do seem approachable and not arrogant towards their fans. Their website is nicely laid out, frequently updated and features a biography, a shop, some wallpapers, tour details and links, but unfortunately no lyrics, so if like me you have Taiwanese releases but don't speak Chinese you have to look elsewhere for translations. They also have a Facebook page as is the fashion now, though it is pretty handy for gig updates etc. Finally, their Encyclopaedia Metallum entry is pretty good, and has their cool old, more necro logo, rather than the new legible one.
