Artist: Chthonic
Label: SPV Records
Release: 2007
Asia’s rising stars of symphonic black metal Chthonic, dressed in folkloric trappings, the most striking of which is the use and sonic integration of the two-stringed fiddle “Er-hu”, mark their first 10 years of existence with the release of a live DVD and a double CD. It’s an impressive package that at first glance looks like some kind of Tibetan Book of the Dead. The cover is wrapped in black linen cloth with traditional characters printed on it in glossy red. Inside there are cut-out pockets holding the discs, and the cardboard inner sleeve is packed with photos of the live event, which dates from 03.02.2006 and took place at Huashan Culture Park (Taipei). So, back home in Taiwan. Chthonic are red hot in East Asia right now, having taken home the Golden Melody Award against the local competition – a kind of Grammy handed out every year in East Asia!
1. DVD
Picture: The DVD was shot entirely with handheld cameras. Of course, that puts the viewer right in the front row, practically under the stage, so the picture feels realistic. On the flip side, the footage mostly doesn’t reach the sharpness you’d want, and the “zoom” is often noticeably grainy. That’s especially annoying in the “close-ups” (zooming in on faces, instruments). The stage is wrapped in thick fog during the show, the kind even Smuk the dwarf would be happy with. The camera jumps between shots very quickly, so just when a particular shot has got you curious about what’s going on up on stage, the camera has already switched to something else. The overall feeling you get while watching is one of serious confusion. What exactly each musician is doing on stage, in the fine details that are the most appealing part of this kind of footage, often isn’t clear at all.
Sound: For a live recording, it’s excellent. Suspiciously too good, in fact, so there were surely over-dubs involved. The instruments are played with incredible precision, and Freddy’s extreme black metal vocals don’t slip up at a single point, staying dynamic and explosive through a 90-minute set of venomous shrieking. The keyboards and Er-hu are clearly audible, brought into line with the classic rock instruments (bass, drums, guitar) with crystal clarity. The sound is beefed up and widened by the occasional addition of a female choir, as well as a 5-piece mini orchestra of traditional instruments, also made up of lovely young ladies. One of the bigger minuses, a result of the cutting process, is the deliberate pauses between songs, which means the recording can’t bring the listener the real moment, the ice-cold, spine-chilling atmosphere of horror and mourning that black metal needs.
Scene: Chthonic went about it in strictly professional fashion, following the guidelines of their experienced gurus and teachers from the Scandinavian school of black metal. All the members wear the genre’s trademark “corpse paint” on their faces, in outfits that shockingly mix sado-masochistic leather bizarreness with lofty gothic lace restraint. The standouts here are drummer Dani, with his spiked muzzle that would shut up even the Lambs, and of course the endlessly attractive sexy target that is bassist Doris, in scanty, provocative lace veils. Chthonic also thought to include two big “screens” showing scenes that tie in sensibly with the concepts behind the songs on the set list. The stage lighting suits the demands of building a dark and tragic atmosphere, led by red-and-purple colour contrasts that push eagerly through the fog-saturated stage, with heavy use of strobes throughout the show to match. The atmosphere is boosted further by the smashed walls of the hall, draped with white flags decorated with traditional characters, surrounding the stage itself. At moments the ambience feels like a real war ruin. The mistake that was made lies in the stage being too high and the barriers (the front row below the stage, around 7-8 m) being too far from it, which rules out a more authentic, more intense, more energy-charged contact between band – crowd. The crowd visibly loses steam and calms down during the show. In the opening part of the gig, the feverish, raging character of the audience is one of the key ingredients in building the intense vibe, but it drops off sharply afterwards. The Asian crowd also doesn’t hide a big streak of naivety: compared to their European counterparts, who are raised in the healthy spirit of black metal tradition, the guys and girls come across as total preemies. It’s pretty funny to compare the “headbanging” of the short-haired, “gelled-up” crowd with the Western European black metal look and behavior.
Performance: The band can pride itself on how deeply the individual members get into their roles. Chthonic, a band with a lot of musical know-how, work as a compact unit in what they do: compositionally enlightened, tightly coordinated in performance, and in their unabashedly genuine drive and eagerness to prove themselves, remarkably fresh and fun! The most important link between Chthonic’s music and the crowd is of course singer Freddy, who comes across as aggressive, shocking and raging enough to be convincing through the band’s entire show. His high self-confidence is especially satisfying, as he authoritatively commands the band on stage and uncompromisingly stirs up the crowd. The solo spots chosen are almost without exception plain, needless filler, showing how clumsy Chthonic are at serving up this element. With the exception of the solo on the two-stringed Er-hu fiddle, not a single one of the other solos has an atmospheric moment that would stick in the listener’s mind. Drummer Dani shows far more skill during the songs themselves, as does guitarist Jesse, while singer Freddy’s keyboard solo serves no real purpose other than giving the rest of the band a few minutes’ rest.
2. DOUBLE LIVE CD:
What you don’t see doesn’t hurt. On that front, both audio discs have a big advantage over the DVD, which directly exposes the band’s weak points. Both audio carriers also leave things to the listener’s imagination, letting it run wild and free, which wipes out the tackiness of the DVD, which serves everything up on a platter right under your nose. A big advantage of both discs over the DVD is that there are no artificially placed breaks between songs, e.g. in the form of two-second pauses; the show runs from start to finish in one piece, which preserves exactly what the DVD can’t. A more authentic atmosphere in the recording. Exultant Suicide is a song placed at the end of the second disc that isn’t on the DVD! The minus is the overlong instrumental intro, which after two and a half minutes becomes ear-pecking annoying thanks to the one-dimensional, repetitive keyboard motif. Otherwise the sound is the same as on the DVD. It’s balanced practically to perfection, with no sonic slip-ups, and was undoubtedly diligently “washed” in the studio. There’s still plenty of room in the sound, so much that Chthonic could easily have fitted in another guitarist. The rich, balanced, spectrally filled sonic depth, in its push for symphonic grandeur, feels a bit too pretty for black metal, not venomous enough, not tragic enough, not sharp and snarling enough, and compared to their Western European colleagues, Chthonic are still real schoolkids when it comes to conjuring up the doom of Judgment Day. Even so, Chthonic are uniquely recognizable at their core. They’ve simply carved out that recognizability successfully with a witty and clever use of folkloric elements, and some of the advantages the band exploits lie in the simple fact that they come from the distant Orient, where the basic understanding of music looks completely different from the way the West sees it. If you boldly combine what you learn from bands like Cradle Of Filth, Dimmu Borgir, Illdiposed and Immortal with your own elementary outlook, success follows. Chthonic are well on their way there, and it could turn out to be a total triumph.
3. CONCLUSION:
In 2006 the band released its fourth studio album “Seediq Bale”, which in terms of quality is by far their strongest so far compared to its predecessors. The lineup that recorded “Seediq Bale” also shows up on this live disc, meaning with new drummer Dani, who brought the band the right rhythmic dynamics that black metal demands. Blast beats ominously hold sound and melody in a tight embrace. A big plus of this release is the emphasis on songs from the “Seediq Bale” album in the set list; in them the symphonic orchestral arrangements, through the clever interplay between the two female choirs and the band, come to life most intensely of all the material on “A Decade On The Throne”.
“A Decade On The Throne” is a very interesting beast. Mainly because of the element of exoticism, boldly combined with imitating the standards of Western European black metal culture. In this Chthonic are oddballs, and in that they’re appealing and deserve attention. Anyone who takes them with an open mind and without the dogmatic whiff of a sweetly softened Eastern version of Cradle Of Filth will be able to enjoy their sound for hours and hours.
In closing, I’d recommend that SPV Records, who decided to distribute this release in Europe, start properly equipping the booklets of releases like this with lyrics in a standard alphabet, since otherwise you’re condemned to helplessly staring at a whole bunch of colorful chicken scratch that’s only of use to the master chefs of Chinese restaurants.
Lineup
Freddy, Left Face of Maradou – vocals, Er-hu*
Su-Nung, the Bloody String – Er-hu*
Jesse, the Infernal – guitar
CJ, Dispersed Fingers – keyboards
Doris, Thunder Tears – bass guitar, backing vocals
Dani, Azathothian Hands – drums
*…. oriental two-stringed fiddle
Production
Chthonic
Track list
CD 1.:
01. Intro
02. Indigenous Laceration
03. Progeny of Rmdax Tasing
04. The Breath of Ocean
05. Decomposition of the Mother Isle (Aboriginal Gods Enthroned)
06. Grab the Soul to Hell
07. Guitar Solo
08. Drum Solo
09. Vengeance Arise
10. Bloody Gaya Fulfilled
11. Fuck Or Die
CD 2.:
01. Piano and Keyboard Solo
02. The Gods Weep
03. Oriental Violin Solo
04. Guard the Isle Eternally
05. Where the Utux Ancestors Wait
06. Floated Unconsciously In the Acheron
07. Grievance, Acheron Poem
08. Onset of Tragedy
09. Relentless Recurrence
10. Quasi Putrefaction
11. Exultant Suicide
DVD:
01. Indigenous Laceration
02. Progeny of Rmdax Tasing
03. The Breath of Ocean
04. Decomposition of the Mother Isle (Aboriginal Gods Enthroned)
05. Grab the Soul to Hell
06. Guitar Solo
07. Drum Solo
08. Vengeance Arise
09. Bloody Gaya Fulfilled
10. Fuck Or Die
11. Piano and Keyboard Solo
12. The Gods Weep
13. Oriental Violin Solo
14. Guard the Isle Eternally
15. Where the Utux Ancestors Wait
16. Floated Unconsciously In the Acheron
17. Grievance, Acheron Poem
18. Onset of Tragedy
19. Relentless Recurrence
20. Quasi Putrefaction
