Well, here we go again. Another attempt to resurrect the blog. This time, I’m just going to honor the good old days of blogging, when it was just writing in a “weblog” about things you were reading or doing. In my case, that will mean writing whatever I want, however I want, whenever I want. Trying to write every blog post as an article just feels like work now. (And honestly it is, since my day job is copywriting.)
Today, I’d like to share this jewel of a metal album that needs more love.
Once you discover the whole UNIVERSE of creativity that is the metal genre, you start exploring every subgenre and language like a forty-niner panning for gold. I tend to listen to a lot of American and Swedish metal artists — Trivium and Avatar ftw! — but I’m always looking for more. When challenged to find a song I liked in a language I don’t speak, I picked Chinese (I don’t speak it ANYMORE, and never spoke it well, so it counts) and quickly came across a band called Black Kirin. Their song “Eagle” caught my attention first with its blend of metal and traditional instruments, including traditional Chinese opera singing. Once I heard “Blood Oath” from their Nanking Massacre album, however, it kicked the hyperfixation switch in my brain.
I promptly listened to the whole album — several times in a row.
The music is intense, as you would expect from an album about the horrific sacking of the city of Nanjing by Japanese forces in 1937. (I won’t get into that event here, but you can easily find articles and books on the subject. Not for the faint of heart.) The combination of traditional Chinese instruments and vocals with black metal* is exquisite and really amplifies the emotional effect. And that scream…that SCREAM. Toward the beginning of “The Song” and “Blood Oath,” there is this incredible scream that feels like a massive psychological release. It’s particularly good in “Blood Oath” after a buildup of drums.
The album follows a pattern of short instrumentals followed by long (7-8 minute) songs. It’s an emotional journey:
- 1937 – Instrumental with sound effects, probably the hardest track to listen to. You hear air raid sirens, a crying child, sobbing adults.
- The Song – Hell of an opener. Gets us going with one of the two incredible screams and lots of energy.
- Evocation – This instrumental reminds me of Pink Floyd’s The Wall with the airplane engines, the dark guitar sound, and that feeling of foreboding.
- The Karma – A heavy song with a vicious sound, more metal than traditional. Very cathartic. Six minutes in, it gets suddenly quiet, and drums build suspense alongside distorted opera singing.
- Bootless Cries – A longer instrumental, sad and meditative with a solo on what I believe is a guzheng (a plucked zither).
- Wangchuan River – The song begins with the sound of sloshing water and moves into slower vocals, both traditional and metal. It builds in intensity with an erhu (spike fiddle) and wailing guitars, and finishes with meditative opera singing and ominous drums.
- Millennium – An “eye of the storm” instrumental with the sounds of water and birds. Still ominous, but you get the feeling that the worst things have happened, and now it’s quiet.
- Blood Oath – Probably my favorite song on the album. The drums building into that scream at 0:49 give me CHILLS. The rest of the song is dark and energetic with soaring erhu and guitar melodies.
So yeah, it’s incredible. Maybe not for everyone, but I LOVE this album and needed to share it with somebody!
*I’m not great with identifying genres, but they’re considered a mix of black metal, melodic death metal, and folk metal.