Are you a fan of metal from all over the world? If you are, I am reporting on a band you may be interested in checking out. The black metal band Chthonic hails from a little place called Taiwan. Weird, huh? Metal from Taiwan. Who knew!

In the last three weeks I have actually seen this band three times. The first time was as Ozzfest, where their performance got me hooked. Then two nights later they came through Jaxx with Nile and finally, they headlined their own show at Jaxx again about two weeks later.

The band decks itself out in all black, with all of the standard studs and spikes. They also have the traditional death paint. But to them "traditional" makes their face paint much different from all of the other black metal bands because theirs has an oriental twist to it. Quite frankly, of all the death paint I have seen, theirs is by far the most interesting. To my surprise, there were a lot of people in the crowd who showed up with painted faces as well. Many more than the 1349 or Behemoth shows a few months back. Instead of wild face paint, the drummer was wearing this leather surgeons mask thing that was covered in spikes. I can't imagine that thing is great when the stage is hot as hell. One more item I feel I must mention about their looks, is that their female bass player was gorgeous. I could have stood there and stared at her the entire show. Luckily I got that out of the way the previous two times I saw them, otherwise I wouldn't have any notes to write from.

The music was really heavy and I found it to be easier to listen to that lots of the black metal out there. I think part of that had to do with a few unique items Chthonic brings to the table. First of all, the most different thing was that they feature an instrument that is like an oriental one stringed violin. At the previous two shows, I couldn't hear it in the mix at all, but at Jaxx is was right up in the mix and it sounded wild. The second thing was that the female bass player sung soaring backup vocals that were somewhat operatic. Another thing that made it sound so different was that some of the songs were sung in their native language, which you could easily pick out against the English. The screeching, groaning, and screaming actually sounded noticeably different when they switched languages.

The music the band played really was a team effort and no member stood out above the others. I can't say I remember much guitar soloing or key solos... Speaking of keys, I was so thrilled that the keys sounded awesome as opposed to cheesy, like a good number of the other black metal bands. Except for the singer, no one really moved around too much as each member seemed to have an assigned zone. They also only moved their heads. They had a bobblehead aspect to them except for the guy that was playing the string and bow instrument. He would stand in a pose the entire time, like set in stone, then when it was his turn to play, he would wave his body around like a tall tree in a strong wind while he danced his bow across the single string.

One other interesting item about this band is that they have been spending time in D.C. and New York helping their people protest the United Nations. From what I could figure out, Taiwan is upset (and rightly so) that China vetoes their bid to enter the U.N. everytime their is a vote and I think this has been going on for decades.

As far as the atmosphere of the club, there were maybe about 100 people in attendance, which was more than I thought would be there. The club was also full of what I am guessing were their relatives. I thought it was very cool to look around and see all of the aunts, uncles, parents, brothers, and sisters watching the show with a smile. The family unit they had seemed to be so much more important than you find in the U.S. I mean, cmon... If you were ever in an American metal band (like a lot of us have been) and you asked all of your relatives to come to the show, whet would the result of that be? Most of them would tell you how awful heavy metal is and ask you why you want to play it, right?

In the end I would encourage anyone reading this to go and check out this band even if just for the cultural experience of it all. I really had a lot of fun watching these guys perform so well in a country and culture that they aren't used to. I actually felt smarter for having seen them. I rate 'em 8 out of 10.

In my next report I hope to give you the scoop on the Shadows Fall/All That Remains/The Showdown/Protest the Hero show on 9/16 ! Stay tuned.

Go to the BGR gallery (CLICK HERE) and check out my pics from last night's the show.

BE SURE to check out our friends at JAXX NIGHTCLUB! www.jaxxroxx.com

If you would like to attend a Jaxx show please let me know. I might be able to drag you along with me.

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And oh yeah...

Peace and Metal Grease!

berube