Label: Cold Woods Productions
Band: Black Kirin
Origin: China
Band: Black Kirin
Origin: China
Black Kirin makes a bold statement with their latest album. Earlier I listened to their acoustic album, which I found rather pleasing, but I can’t use those words when we speak about ‘Nanking Massacre’. The Chinese band appears to be particularly productive, but this takes their expressions a notch upwards.
The ‘Nanking Massacre’ is also dubbed the ‘Rape of Nanking’ and can only be described as one of the great atrocities of history. This is the name for a series of events, following the taking of the Chinese capital of Nanking by Japanese troops in the Second Sino-Japanese War. Earlier I also checked out their ‘Xiao Shiao’ album.
Thunderous metal greets the listener, spiced up with mournful strings from Chinese folk music and the wailing singing associated with the same musical heritage. Combined with the quite heavy, rhythmic music, it offers a quite different listening experience. Another aspect is the operatic sections, but all parts seem to find harmony on this album. Black Kirin uses contrasts for maximum effect.
It’s weird for western listeners probably, to hear radical shifts between classical passages and intense, full on heavy metal. Apparently that’s not such a big deal for bands from the far east. After the melancholy of ‘Da Qu’, you’re thrown into chaos on ‘Evocation’. Blistering, crushing riff work assaults you on ‘II. The Song’, with wild sound effects, singining, and screams. Brutal death metal pounds away, in that typical chaotic manner. Personally not my favorite style, but well fitting in this conceptual display of human horror.
And then there’s calm again with ‘Nai He’. Weary guitar picking and chiming sounds in a more free flowing way, never actually trying to build a song structure. The simple expression is enough to convey thoughts and feelings. I am filled with ideas and thoughts at the end of ‘Thousand Years’, the outro of the album. Again, Black Kirin has enchanted me with an amazing record.