The 14th April 2010 is a raven-hued day for me as well as for the music scene in general and the metal scene in particular. It’s the day on which Peter Steele, the lead singer, bassist and composer of the Gothic Metal band Type O Negative had succumbed to a heart attack at an age of 48 years.

The death news has been confirmed by fellow bandmate Kenny Hickey and also by Fuse Host Mistress Juliya and Revolver’s editor in chief Brandon Geist who posted messages on their twitter.

There have been rumours about Peter Steeles death in 2005, as Type O Negative announced the reputed demise of their singer on the bands homepage. The hoax also included the cause of death: heart attack. It must be irony of fate that Peter Steele succumbed to a heart attack now, but I’m pretty sure that Peter would like that kind of humour and would laughing his ass off.

In April 2007, Pete revealed that he had embraced the Roman Catholic faith after many years of atheism. In an interview with U.S. metal magazine Decibel, he said:

There are no atheists in foxholes, they say, and I was a foxhole atheist for a long time. But after going through a midlife crisis and having many things change very quickly, it made me realise my mortality. And when you start to think about death, you start to think about what’s after it. And then you start hoping there is a God. For me, it’s a frightening thought to go nowhere. I also can’t believe that people like Stalin and Hitler are gonna go to the same place as Mother Teresa.

The very first time I heardt about Type O Negative was in 1993 as the video of ‘Christian Woman’ has been presented during the legendary MTV show Headbangers Ball. The song got me from the very first moment and so I bought their album ‘Bloody Kisses’ – and in the end I’m owning all of their records.

I became a real fan of Peter Steele and Type O Negative in particular, and I’ve been always drooling over their next release. Unfortunately I did not have the chance to see them live on stage, and I’m sad that I won’t have that chance anymore.

My heart, support and thoughts are with his family, Kenny Hickey, Josh Silver and John Kelly. I wish you will have the strength to tide over those dark and bad times.

Steele’s death is a serious loss to music and he would be remembered for his notable contribution to the world of music.

Rest in Peace, Peter. Thanks for the gifts you left behind. We will miss you.

Welcome to the first article of my Asian Metal Bands-series. As there is a huge variety in quantitiy and qualitiy of english information regarding to asian bands, I have decided to pick those two bands that impressed me most and take a closer look on them. I think I will keep it this way for the following articles about korean, chinese, japanese and the other bands.

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.

Miika Tenkula, former main songwriter, guitarist and founding member of the finnish Gothic/Melodic Death Metal band Sentenced, has passed away on February 19th at the age of 35 years. Although the cause of death has not yet been revealed, drummer Vesa Ranta claimed that Tenkula “had a serious drinking problem for many years”.

Rest in pease Miika, we will miss you.