Chthonic

Biography

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Chthonic (1995-present): a Heavy Metal band from Taipei, Taiwan.

ometimes typeset as 'ChthoniC' or 'ChThoniC', Chthonic is a Taiwanese heavy metal band, formed in 1995 in Taipei, and often called "the Black Sabbath of Asia." The group incorporates influences from traditional Taiwanese music, including adaptations of folk songs and the use of traditional instruments, most notably the erhu (often called the hiân-á in the band's native Taiwanese Hokkien). Their stated goal is to use their music to bring ancient history and mythology into the modern era especially to build awareness of the myths of Taiwan and events in that country's history. Since 2011 their use of the erhu has been complemented with stringed instruments like the koto and shamisen, as well as Tibetan Bells, and shakuhachi and Seediq hunting flutes, the latter of which are traditionally used by the aboriginal people of Taiwan. The band members are also acclaimed artists and political activists who advocate independence for Taiwan and self-determination for Tibetans and Uighurs. Singer Freddy Lim served as Chairman of the Taiwan chapter of Amnesty International from 2010 to 2014 and has been a legislator since 2016, first representing the New Power Party before becoming an independent.

Chthonic was formed in 1995; the name being a Greek term referring to the earth and the underworld. In the west, the term is usually pronounced thonic (note the Germanic 'th' combination). The original members were Lim along with classmates from high school and university. The line-up went through many changes before the band released their debut album, Where the Ancestors' Souls Gathered (1999) under the membership of Freddy Lim (vocals/erhu), Zac Chang (guitar), Xiao-Yu (bass), Xiao-Wang (drums) and Ambrosia (keyboards/backing vocals). In their early period, Chthonic tried different styles of heavy metal. Lim singing clean vocals, the act dabbling with power metal and black metal on selected tracks. Ambrosia occasionally sang in the early songs as well. From the start, Lim has written songs in Taiwanese, Classical Chinese, and Mandarin Chinese; more recent albums, however, starting with the re-release of their second album, 9th Empyrean (2002) under the membership change of Zac, Xiao-Yu and Xiao-Wang replaced with Jesse Liu, Doris Yeh and AJ Tsai respectively, all releases have also been published in English.

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In 2001, Ambrosia left and was replaced by Vivien Chen. Chthonic for their third album, Relentless Recurrence (2002) based on the legendary Taiwanese ghost story "Lin-tou Jie." The album retained a symphonic black metal style mixed with Taiwanese elements. The album was also the first Chthonic album originally written entirely in Taiwanese as opposed to a mix of languages as listed before.

In 2002 the band played festivals in the United States, Japan, and Hong Kong; and toured with Swedish black metal band Dark Funeral. In late 2002 Chen left the band and was replaced by Luis Wei. In 2003 the band released the single Satan's Horns, which was used as the theme song for the Taiwanese release of the movie Freddy vs. Jason.

In 2004 Alexia Lee replaced Wei on keyboards and Dani Wang replaced Tsai on drums. In 2005 the band released their fourth album, Seediq Bale, which is based on the "Wushe Incident". In addition to symphonic black metal mixed with Taiwanese elements, the album featured increased use of erhu, blast beats, and female vocals (including a guest appearance by pop singer Sandee Chan). The album was released in Mandarin Chinese and English versions, with both integrating some Seediq and Japanese lyrics. This album also supported donations for the movie project Seediq Bale directed by Wei Te-sheng, who in turn donated the film's trailer for Chthonic's use in the music video for Quasi Putrefaction. Soon after the release, Lee left and was replaced by CJ Kao; the erhu player Su-nong also joined the band.

In early 2006, Chthonic held the "A Decade on the Throne" concert in Huashan Culture Park, Taipei. To celebrate their tenth anniversary the band released a DVD of that concert, the compilation album Pandemonium, and the book 'CHTHONIC Dynast'.

In 2007 Chthonic were featured as a second stage act at the 2007 Ozzfest tour. The band named that year's tour "UNlimited Taiwan Tour" to draw awareness to the United Nations not recognizing Taiwan as an independent state. This symbolic protest was covered by the US mainstream media, including ABC television, New York Times, Los Angeles Times, Washington Post, and others.

Mirror of Retribution (2009) would follow, produced by Anthrax guitarist Rob Caggiano and is based on the "February 28 Incident" and features guest appearances by singers Sandee Chan and Francine Boucher of the band Echoes of Eternity. During this period, bassist Doris Yeh became the band's spokesperson and business manager, taking over the roles performed by Lim since the band's formation in 1995.

Takasago Army (2011) was based on the story of the Takasago Volunteers, Taiwanese aboriginal soldiers who fought for Japan during World War II. The album included guest appearances from singers Yu Tien and Chan Yawen, and Taroko musician Pitero Wukah on pgaku flute. Lim and Liu were noted to say that this album marked a reversal in the band's writing, as the songs were first written in a traditional Taiwanese folk format but were then played with heavy metal techniques. Doris Yeh further stated that the Western definition of "heavy metal," whether it is black metal or death metal, cannot easily define Chthonic's style; thus, having to choose a term, the band uses the term "Orient Metal".

The band's seventh studio album, Bu-Tik (2013) was noted for the cover depicting a nude female with white hair wielding a sword in her right hand and a prosthetic gun on her left arm.

Timeless Sentence, a live album featuring acoustic rearrangements of songs from the two previous studio albums, was released in late 2014, with Battlefields of Asura (2018) following.

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