In the previous part of the series, I complained a bit about the fact that it was difficult to choose just a few bands from all those great bands, but I can assure you, in case of the chinese bands that task was even harder.

Ego Fall/Against Me:

The foundational line up of China’s first Metal Core Band Ego Fall came from the former inner Mongolian Grunge band called Subconscious (潜意识 QianYiShi) which was found back in 2000.

One year later, a new vocalist and a guitarist came into the band and led the music changed more towards metal style. In the beginning of 2004 the band name was officially changed to Against Me, and the music tend more into power metal. 2005 the initial vocalist and guitarist returned and brought their Melodic Death Metal influences into band. Now with two shouters on stage they also let different elements like industrial, NuMetal etc. flow into their music and mix it all up into nowadays Metal Core Style.

Up to date they released one album “Spirit of Mongolia” (2008) as Ego Fall.

The Rule in Troubled Times from Spirit of Mongolia

Die from Sorrow

Formed in 2001, Die from Sorrow (郁) is a Melodic Death Metal band who has always been an active member of the Beijing underground metal stage.

Just like their name, the band has an inward looking and concealed classicism. Accompanying the radical death metal style is a style that is sometimes desolate and sometimes euphemistic, but never loses its power to inspire.

Thanks to the flowing guitars and the sound of the singers voice which is sometimes crazy and sometimes like a soliloquy, Die from Sorrow’s Northern European Melodic metal has received a lot of high praise for most of its performances.

Since their formation in 2001 they have released one album called “Sunset Eden”
(2009).

Frosty Eve

Influenced by norther european bands like Children of Bodom, Frosty Eve has been formed in 2004 in Beijing as a Melodic Death Metal Band.

After a few years of doing underground gigs and self produced demo, they are signed to the legendary chinese metal label Mort Productions now.

Frosty Eve released their debut album “Dying Dreamland” (2007) and “Polar Nights” (2009) so far.

Iced Moon from Dying Dreamland

More interesting Bands

The Dark Metal One Man project Darkness Over Depth has been founded in 2002 and released three full-length albums; “Darkness Over Depth” (2003), “The Dream” (2006) and “Heng Yun. Ta Yue” (2008). Listen to The Mirage which can be found on web-released single “The Mirage”.

Silent Resentment is a Gothic/Doom Metal band that has been formed in 2007. The most remarkable about them is that some of their songs include german lyrics, as you can hear in Der Tanz der Totengraeber from their first album “Death is Utopia” (2009).

“Eclipse of the Dark Lunar” (2009) is the first full-length album by the 2001 founded Gothic/Black Metal band called Screaming Savior. Checkout 折翼轮回 from “Eclipse of the Dark Lunar”.

Formed in 2005, the Gothic Metal band Dengel has only released an EP called “DengeL” so far. Here is Death is the Beginning of Birth.

Narakam (fka Hades) has been formed in 1999 as one of the first Doom/Death Metal bands in China. As Narakam they released two albums “Awakening of Blind Fire” (2007) and “Burning at Moment” (2008) and one as Hades “Hades” (2002). Listen to Path of Incubus.

The Melodic Death Metal Thallus has been formed in 1997 as Moss and released one full-length album so far. Here is Evil Rock Bottom from “Sell My Soul” (2009).

Norcelement is a Death Metal band which has been formed in 2000 as Black Wizard. So far they released one album called “Flame in Darkness” (2009). This is 逃跑的青春 from “Flame in Darkness”.

Special Mentions

Probably you should also checkout the following bands:

Death Metal: Burnmark with Gorgon Killer.

Death Metal: Evocation with 1942.

Death Metal: Lunar Eclipse with 血瞳.

Death Metal: Tiefutu with Tiefutu.

Folk Metal: Empylver with Old Boy.

Oathean

Oathean is a korean melodic black metal band that has been formed 1993 originally under the name Odin, but changed their name three years later after a short hiatus.

Neither their lyrical themes are subject to satanism or anti-christianity nor they are using corpsepaint which is actually typical for black metal bands. Their lyrics mainly deal with depression and sadness and they incorporate influences of folk metal as well as korean world music with the use of traditional korean instruments.

Since their name change, Oathean has released five albums: “The Eyes of Tremendous Sorrow” (1998), “Ten Days in Lachrymation” (2001), “The Last Desperate 10 Years as Ever” (2003, containing the 1997 demo and remastered old songs), “Fading Away into the Grave of Nothingness” (2004), “The Eyes of Tremendous Sorrow + As a Solitary Tree Against the Sky” (2005, containing five new songs and the first album) and “Regarding All the Sadness of the World” (2008).

Cruel Sadness from Regarding All the Sadness of the World:

Dark Mirror ov Tragedy

The band name is taken from the middle-age prophet Nostradamus who saw through the mirror the dark cursing future. Like the name, their music is the combination of small pieces of harping memories from self life experiences carved by going back and forth from darkness to brightness.

The members of Dark Mirror ov Tragedy pride themselves in fusing ethnic korean sounds to their spontaneous usage of minor key melodies that deeply incite the listener’s sensitivity and their inclination to be experimental to stimulate the listener’s mind thus making their koreanized brand of symphonic dark/black metal truly a class of its own.

Since their formation 2003, they released two albums “Dark Mirror ov Tragedy” (2005) and “The Pregnant of Despair” (2009).

Their official website can be found here.

Perfume of Death from Dark Mirror ov Tragedy

More interesting bands

Holymarsh was a Melodic Death Metal band from South Korea, that has been formed in 2000 and unfortunately split-up in 2005. Till their split-up they released two albums “In the Holymarsh” and “Infliction ov the Morbid Intention”. Here you will find No More Masquerades from “Infliction ov the Morbid Intention” which reminds me of Amon Amarth.

“Unwritten Prophecy” and “Slaughter of the Seoul” (2009) are the two albums that the Death Metal band Necramyth has released since their formation in 2001. Ravenouz Ritual from the second album.

The Melodic Death/Black Metal band The Crescents has been formed in 2004 and released three albums “Neo Metalnesque” (2005), “Flowergrave” (2006) and “The Rising” (2009). Here you can checkout Ride of Valkyries from their album “Flowergrave”.

Dark Ambition is a Melodic Death/Black Metal band that released two albums “Crimson Temptation” and “Tears of Daewongoon”. Listen to the title track of the first album Crimson Temptation.

Formed in 1999 and on hold since 2005, the Melodic Black metal Sunoi released one album called “Within the Depths of a Dream… a Moment’s Respite”. Checkout Pysochotic Flower.

Gostwind has been formed in 2004 and are playing a Gothic/Folk metal mixture that is somehow unique. They released two albums so far “10,000 years ago” (2005) and “Korean RD” (2006). Tears in Memory from “Korean RD”.

Special Mentions

Actually the series is mainly subject to Death/Black/Doom metal bands, but nevertheless I would like you to checkout Regret by Diesel Sneakers (Metalcore) as well as Apocalyptic Crusade by Fatal Fear (Deathcore).

ChthoniC

ChthoniC is a melodic black/extreme metal band from Taipei that has been founded in 1995. The band incorporates influences from traditional taiwanese
music including instruments such as the erhu (which is called hena in native taiwanese).

ChthoniC is also known as the first taiwanese metal band that gained regional and international recognition. They won numerous awards like 2003 the Best Band Award at the Taiwan Golden Melodies Award Ceremony.

They also have been part of the 2007 Ozzfest tour as a rotating second stage act. While taking part in the Ozzfest, they also toured as a support act for Nile. From the US they flew to Germany to play at the Wacken Open Air 2007.

The themes mostly surround the defiant spirit of early Taiwanese colonizers, fictional wars between aborigine’s gods with Han’s gods, Taiwanese folklore and mythology, and the historical event known as the Wushe Incident, which was a rebellion against the Japanese governor by the Seediq people.

Some of their songs are partly or entirely written in taiwanese, japanese or taiwanese aboriginal languages, but most of the band’s songs have their lyrics written entirely in classical chinese, which is rarely seen in contemporary chinese music.

Since their formation, ChthoniC has released five studio albums: “Where the Ancestors’ Soul Gathered” (1999), “9th Empyrean” (2000), “Relentless Recurrence” (2002), “Seediq Bale” (2005) and “Mirror of Retribution” (2009).

Their official website can be found here.

Blooming Blades from Mirror of Retribution:

Anthelion

Within three months of their formation in December 2001, the melodic black metal act recorded and released their first demo, but because of excessive touring it took them five more years for their debut album “Bloodshed Rebefallen”.

Interweaving brutal rhythms, sorrowfully beautiful piano melodies, and strings of grandeur, Anthelion’s music encapsulates beauty, intricacy, extreme intensity, and conflict into a single expression.

The vocals are an elaborate web of croaks high and low, stringed together with ear-dissecting screeches that fully express the strong emotions in the songs. The guitars incorporate a sound deeply influenced by speed metal and techniques from classical music onto a foundation of dark and heavy black metal guitar, which compliments Anthelion’s resplendent style of music arrangement. Though still fast and brutal, the drums differentiate itself from the usual black metal act by alternating different techniques and tempos (reminds a bit of the old Dimmu Borgir) to enhance the sense of rhythm in the music.

Their official website seems to be down at the moment, but you can check them out on MySpace.

The Tome of Broken Souls from Bloodshed Rebefallen:

More interesting bands:

The Melodic Death Metal band Infernal Chaos has been formed in 2004. Up to now they released one album “Vision of Disorder”. Checkout “We Stand Alone” from their debut EP.

In 2007 Emerging From The Cocoon started to spread their vision of Death Metal throughout asian countries. Since their foundation they have released one demo “Arise After Withering” (2008) and an album “Sanguinivore” (2009). The Sickness Unto Death by EftC.

Crescent Lament is a Gothic (Metal) band that has been founded in 2007. Since then they released two demos “Crescent Lament” & “The Forgotten Winter”. Danse Macabre by Crescent Lament.

In fact I wanted to write this article a couple of weeks ago as I found a taiwanese black metal. The band is called ChthoniC and I found it by chance. While checking out some online resources, amongst others last.fm.

While browsing through the similiar artists of ChthoniC I had the chance to discover a few more asian black/death metal bands that I would like to share with you. In the end I decided to write a whole article series of at least five parts.

Each part will cover bands from a specific country, namely Taiwan¹, China, Japan and Korea. The articles will mainly focus on black and death metal bands and will also feature some gothic or doom metal bands as well as metalcore.

Here is the planned article list:

1. Part 1: Taiwan
2. Part 2: Korea
3. Part 3: China
4. Part 4: Japan
5. Part 5: Others

So stay tuned and come back for the first article which will be posted soon.

Vikernes has been sentenced to 21 years for the infamous murder of Oystein ‘Euronymous’ Aarseth (Guitarist of Mayhem), as well as for three accounts of church burning.

Hail Satan (english subtitles)

Hail Satan 2: True Scandinavian Black Metal (english subtitles)