FOR the Year of the Snake, instead of mainstream Chinese musicians, check out the proverbial “snakes” that slither in the deepest recesses of the underground music scene.
From atmospheric black metal that channels ancient spirits through bamboo hats and straw capes to folk-influenced extreme metal incorporating traditional instruments, these bands have carved a unique niche in their homeland and across the global metal landscape.
Their music weaves tales of history, from imperial warfare to cultural heritage, creating a soundscape where blast beats meet traditional melodies and where ancient storytelling finds new life through distorted guitars and primal screams. This fusion of East and West has produced some of the most innovative metal music of the past two decades.
Zuriaake
Recommended album: Yi Qiu (Afterimage of Autumn)
First up and arguably the most prolific Chinese metal band from the turn of the century is Zuriaake. Formed in 1998, the band is one of the longest surviving metal outfits from China.
Rather than the typical “corpse paint” (white and black make-up) used by their cohorts to maintain anonymity on stage, members of Zuriaake play their live shows in bamboo hats, black veils and straw capes, evoking a haunting image of spectral fishermen cloaked in the “fog” produced by smoke machines.
Zuriaake’s music tilts heavily into the atmospheric side of black metal, with compositions mixing traditional styles of the latter with Chinese folk instruments, while lyrically, the band focuses on Chinese history.
Holyarrow
Recommended album: Zhong Chi (Oath of Allegiance)
Though Holyarrow is in the same subgenre as Zuriaake, the band takes a more militaristic approach to music by opting to conquer eardrums by pummeling them into submission the way old Chinese armies once did during a war campaign.
While Zuriaake uses atmosphere dynamically, Holyarrow’s take is oppressive, weaving furious blast beats with traditional Chinese instruments as frontman Schtarch shrieks out lyrics on Chinese history and war.
Black Kirin
Recommended album: Jin Ling Ji (Nanking Massacre)
The second-most accessible band on this list, Black Kirin’s music is an amalgamation of several different styles of metal, particularly traditional metal, black metal and folk metal.
In the middle of that Venn diagram, Black Kirin edges closer to the folk half, as the band tends to place – more than the other bands on this list – a heavier emphasis on incorporating folk Chinese instruments into their song compositions.
Using instruments such as the guzheng and xun alongside electric guitars, bass and drums has led to some amazingly
weird songs.
Vengeful Spectre
Recommended album: Yun Sha (Vengeful Spectre)
Relatively new at the time, the band dropped its eponymous debut album at the start of the 2020 pandemic. With everyone stuck in their homes, word of mouth elevated the ferocious band to popular consciousness.
Like many new outfits, Vengeful Spectre has a more refreshed, somewhat accessible sound production-wise, where the vocals seem to be as loud and clear, if not more, than the instruments. Their use of folk instruments avoids the pitfall of being a gimmick, as the placements in each song fit the parts before and after them. Moreover, these instruments are not overused.
Tengger Cavalry
Recommended album: Xue Ji Sa Man (Blood Sacrifice Shaman)
Ten years before The Hu popularised Mongolian folk metal, Tengger Cavalry was already riding on horseback into battle on the Mongolian steppes playing the exact same music.
Formed by frontman the late Nature Ganganbaigal, a Chinese-Mongolian, the band essentially laid the framework for how metal music would sound if songs with electric guitars, bass and drums were accompanied by lengthy compositions of Mongolian folk instruments such as the morin khuur and Tuvan throat singing.
The band has split-up following the sudden passing of Ganganbaigal but its music is still widely available online, with the tunes being
listener-friendly.
Ripped to Shreds
Recommended album: Mai Zang (Burial)
Heavier than the previous bands and the only death metal band on the list is frontman Andrew Lee’s Ripped to Shreds. Based in California, US, Lee’s band grew from a one-man unit into a full band in the years following its debut album.
The band’s albums are known for being eclectic and experimental, with crushing riffs and searing drumming brought together by Lee’s writing and composition prowess. Though he is Taiwanese-American, the band’s material draws a lot from the Chinese culture he was exposed to.
