Chthonic - Bu-Tik
Writing reviews for Chthonic albums is always a tough thing for me. I imagine that they’d be a hell of a lot easier to write if I just based my reviews on how hot I thought bassist Doris Yeh looked in the band’s promo photographs. Of course, if I wanted to review albums based on how hot one or more of the group’s female members are, I’d work for a K-Pop website and all I would review would be releases by 4Minute, G.Na or Girl’s Generation. Chthonic is more than just Doris and their music isn’t brainless Pop bullshit. I hate doing reviews of their albums because it’s so fucking hard for me not to give them a perfect score. I’ve already done it twice. I loved Takasago Army because it kicked my ass in all the ways I wanted it to. I even loved the live DVD/CD, Final Battle at Sing Ling Temple, not because it was flawless, but because it had flaws that I associate with a legitimate live recording. How many of us have gone to a concert where everything went off perfectly and nothing had to be adjusted? The flaws in the live release told me that they didn’t go into the studio and rerecord anything. That was how they sounded that night and it was a great concert. In a rather roundabout way, this brings us to the new Chthonic album, Bu-Tik. Chthonic has always been the Asian version of Cradle of Filth/Dimmu Borgir, but they’ve been emphasizing the Asian aspects of their music. They aren’t Tengger Cavalry, but they do deliver a substantial level of Asian musical elements into their Symphonic Black Metal. I like it when bands bring something different to the table. I’d much rather hear a band bring their own perspective to the genre as opposed to blatantly aping another scene’s style. If you’ve been listening to Metal for any length of time, you’re sure to have heard groups from South America playing Viking Metal, or Norse-style Black Metal played by dudes from Malaysia. What Chthonic does is integrate European Symphonic Black Metal with traditional Chinese Folk music to produce some truly epic stuff. The atmospheric element that is usually present in Chthonic’s music is a bit blunted by the fact that the band decided to focus more on the guitars this time around. Bu-Tik is primarily a guitar-based album. The keyboards are more in the background and while this reins in their symphonic parts a bit, it does more to increase their ass-kicking factor. And this album does kick your ass. Aside from the brief atmospheric interludes, this is as brutal of a stomping as they’ve ever delivered. It’s a reminder that they’re a Metal band, and that you, the listener, shouldn’t forget that - despite the intricate and atmospheric keyboards or the symphonic elements that are present. There is one flaw, though, in their otherwise perfect armor. The production in places is such that the drums sometimes overpower even the guitars. With the keyboards pushed further into the background, the two dominant instruments are the guitars and the drums. When drummer Dani Wang is in full blast mode, he rides that snare like a Kennedy on a cheap hooker. The net result is that Jesse Liu’s guitar gymnastics are lost underneath the sound of Dani pounding his snare like it owes him money. Thankfully, this doesn’t happen very often. It’s enough to call attention to itself, but I don’t consider this a serious detraction. It keeps this from being flawless, but Chthonic is still a highly recommended band and this is still a highly recommended album.
(0) Comment(s)
Page 1 of 1 pages