Dubbed the “Black Sabbath of Asia,” Chthonic will be the first Asian band to play in Ozzfest. Their US tour will begin in Seattle on July 12th and end two months later on the East Coast. Along with Ozzfest, they will simultaneously begin their “Unlimited Chthonic, Unlimited Taiwan” tour which will more than double the number of gigs in the United States. In all, they will play an ambitious 50 concerts in sixty days.
In launching Unlimited, Chthonic wanted to emphasize the “Unlimited” potential of Taiwan and the Taiwanese people. The band hopes the tour will “highlight ‘UN Limited Taiwan’, an endeavor to strongly protest how the United Nations limited Taiwan’s full participation as an independent country.” Although the band’s political leaning has not hurt their popularity in the United States and Europe, it has prevented them from entering China to play for their mainland Chinese fans.
The band’s name, Chthonic (pronounced THON-ick), is derived from Greek, meaning Spirit of the Underworld. In name and appearance, they have all the trappings of a mental band, but their music is much more than your standard heavy mental fare. Their unique sound comes from combining traditional Chinese musical instruments as they sing about Taiwan’s native folklore and lost cultures.
Founded in 1995 by front man Freddy Lin, Chthonic 5-member band has already released four albums. They have won the equivalent of the Grammy for Best Asian Rock Group in the 14th Golden Melody Award and have had their music featured in Hollywood’s Freddy vs. Jason. This week, they will release a live double album/DVD entitled A Decade on the Throne and Relentless Recurrence for their North American audience. With three of their albums in English, Chthonic hopes to conquer America with its unique blend of Far Eastern metal.
For more information about Chthonic and their music, please visit: www.chthonic.org or hear their songs at myspace.com/ChthoniCtw. Chthonic, along with NILE, will be playing at the Roseland Theater in Portland on Sunday, July 15.
For the complete US tour schedule, please visit: http://chthonic.org/unlimited/#dates.
