Chthonic – Takasago Army (2011)
01. The Island 02:15
02. Legacy Of The Seediq 04:22
03. Takao 04:14
04. Oceanquake 03:45
05. Southern Cross 03:54
06. Kaoru 05:39
07. Broken Jade 05:43
08. Root Regeneration 01:25
09. Mahakala 04:03
10. Quell The Souls In Sing Ling Temple 05:19
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Reviewed by a shattered bastard
Well, prior to actually listening to this group all I knew was that they were from Taiwan, they play some sort of Black Metal and that there’s a female member with a funny name (Doris?!? FuckingDoris?).
Bearing these factors in mind, it would be easy for a cynic such as myself to dismiss them as some sort of quirky Asian novelty act, as many have done with say, Gallhammer (which was never really justifiable in my opinion, but there you go). The fact that Black Metal these days isn’t the dangerous thing it was perceived to be in the early 90’s and has become largely the domain of immature children with laughable notions metaphysics doesn’t help (ok, so that probably hasn’t changed too much, but at least it was easier to take seriously back in the day).
Their somewhat tongue-in-cheek appearance hints that this group either don’t take themselves too seriously, or that they’re a bunch of fruit-loops, but I can honestly say that after listening to ‘Takasago Army’ that none of the above matters in the fucking slightest! Why? Because going by this album they’re pretty fucking good at making…
SYMPHONIC BLACK METAL!!!!
Do you remember this much maligned sub-genre of Black Metal? Essentially the creation of Emperor, later to be popularised by the likes of Cradle of Filth (back when they were a Black Metal band) and Dimmu Borgir (back when they were a Black Metal Band), before being brought down and tarnished by, er… Cradle of Filth and uh… Dimmu Borgir.
There were other notable proponents of this style, but these three are undoubtedly the most significant, and in some cases notorious. CoF having long left the shores of Black Metal in order to make watered down accessible ‘Horror Metal’ a shadow of their former triumphs while Dimmu Borgir’s music should not be classed as anything other than Symphonic Metal , they both get paid extremely fucking well for this, and Black Metal is a purely not for profit institution (because having a real job instead is so awesome?).
Well guess what? Cthonic don’t give a fuck! ‘Takasago Army’ is an intense lesson on why Symphonic Black Metal is a triple hard bastard that has no qualms about slapping the fuck out of deliberately under-produced shit masquerading as Trve in an effort to mask a lack of talent.
What you get here is a very refined form of aggression virtually unheard of since ‘Cruely and the Beast’ era CoF: which is not to say that this is a clone of that release (it isn’t!) but there are some subtle similarities in style which are hard ignore, almost as if the collective minds behind that release decided that instead of taking the ‘Midian’ route (which they sadly did) they should spend a decade in the Far East and contemplate the finer points of upping the Metal quota, using ‘Cruelty…’ as the foundation for whatever dark eastern tales would follow.
I could say that this is across between Bal-Sagoth and ‘Cruelty…’ era CoF, but that would be to do Cthonic a great disservice, as their work has it’s own unique flavour distinct from their predecessors and/or contemporaries, although the shrieked vocals are pure Dani Filth circa 1998.
The opening instrumental track conjures up mental images that would not be out of place in a fantasy RPG, before ‘Legacy Of The Seediq’ kicks your fucking door in and wrecks your house with military efficiency.
From there on you’re subjected to savagely melodic beating that puts at least the last three Dimmu Borgir releases to shame, while drawing attention to the fact that it IS possible make Symphonic Black Metal without being weak or overly accessible, yet creative at the same time. This is aggressive, fist banging, fast paced sophisticated Black Metal (to steal Emperor’s phrase) that utilises melody, keyboards AND the occasional female vocals (‘Kaoru’ haunts like fuck!), yet without being namby-pamby pussy music.
Not perfect, but pretty fucking good, superbly balancing melody and aggression in a way rarely encountered outside of Bal-Sagoth, they’ve also very interesting lyrics for those interested in history (apparently The title ‘Takasago Army’ refers to volunteer soldiers in the Imperial Japanese Army, recruited from the Taiwanese aboriginal tribes during World War II. Takasago is an ancient Japanese term to referTaiwan).
Stop gawping and join the Takasago Army.
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