CHTHONIC — Seediq Bale (review)

CHTHONIC — Seediq Bale album cover Album · 2005 · Symphonic Black Metal Buy this album from MMA partners
4/5 ·
siLLy puPPy
CHTHONIC is an unusual musical entity. They are a symphonic black metal band from the far Eastern island of Taiwan. Although they've been around since 1995 and have several albums under their belt, their 4th album (which was the first to be released outside Asia) SEEDIQ BALE is my first taste of them. Upon first discovery I was perplexed as to what exactly the title meant figuring it was probably Taiwanese in the Roman alphabet. SEEDIQ is in fact the name of the aboriginal people of the island and BALE is an English word meaning pain or suffering. So in accord with the band's goal of educating the world through their music the history of their country they dedicate a whole album to the SEEDIQ people and all the conquests that left their very existence in question.

I would say that CHTHONIC sounds like the perfect fusion of Dimmu Borgir and the Japanese band Sigh with a touch of Nightwish thrown in. They also throw in a few nods to death, industrial and traditional metal as well with some of their riffing and solos. Basically they have an aggressive black metal fury complete with tremolo guitar picking, blastbeats and the buzzsaw mixing approach mixed with some nice atmospheric keyboards and the occasional female harmonizing vocalist adding layers of melody. The vocalist has that extreme metal scream that I have only heard in Asian metal bands reminding me a lot of Sigh, however I like this band much better than Sigh's straight on black metal period and this band doesn't have the over-the-top approach that Sigh took on.

One of the most unique factors of this band is how they incorporate Taiwanese music and instruments into their sound, such as the erhu, koto, shamisen, Tibetan bells, shakuhachi and pgaki flutes. Nowhere are some of these unique sounds more noticeable than on some of the intros but they are found elsewhere and clearly influence the song structures themselves making this a unique sound for a melodic black metal album. I have really gotten into this album and am anxious to continue dipping into their discography. The only drawback here is that a few songs have a samey feel otherwise this is a highly entertaining album that unlike Dimmu Borgir on many of their albums, achieves a successful balance of the symphonic and black metal aspects of the music.
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