Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *
In amongst all the areas in which the Metal world resides, whether the old guard of the U.K. and America through to the new emerging and sometimes surprising steel fortresses of France, Norway and Sweden, it can be quite easy and utterly shameful, to forget that Metal in any guise is loved all over the world. It is not something that just purely belongs to one particular set of fans or even one country. Perhaps nowhere is this better typified than in the Taiwanese band Chthonic and their fast paced, vocally crunching and bitter but well placed rage that chokes the life out of pretenders to the throne of Eastern Metal.
After six albums in which to try and tip the balance of power in the genre from one side to the other, the band may well have found the secret once again in the seventh release, the cool, the grinding muscle and seemingly endless potential energy in Bú-Tik. The secret may be returning to Sweden to record the new album, it may be in the very intense but steadfast way in which the music is presented, it could of course just be that the group offer something different to Western ears, something other than the usual, the great, the sublime but sometimes predictable submission.
Certainly the addition of Doris Yeh in 1999 marked the group out as progressive in their thought and her stunning bass playing is a delight just on its own but as part of Chthonic, with Freddy Lim’s vocals, Jesse Liu’s great guitar playing, the superb Dani Wang on drums and CJ Kao on keyboards, this is a metal phenomenon that any country would be proud to call its own.
Despite the pressure of making their songs appeal to a Western audience as well as making sure they don’t alienate their home crowd, the tracks that fill this album with the kind of musical abundance that would not be out of place in the time of N.W.O.B.H.M. are just performed with the type of divine skill you would expect for a group crossing over several boundaries. Tracks such as Sail Into The Sunset’s Fire, Between Silence and Death, Rage of My Sword and Defenders of Bu-tik Palace all have the fascination and musical attraction to tempt the fans, no matter where they may call home.
Bú-Tik unfortunately won’t appeal to everyone which is a shame, some people will be too blinkered to appreciate what they hear by Chthonic but they are the ones missing out on something rather special.
Bú-Tik is released via Spinefarm Records on June 3rd.
Ian D. Hall