Metal is rare in Vietnam, let alone progressive metal, yet there was at least one band that have deserved the title of "Vietnamese Dream Theater". Unfortunately Hạc San seem to be defunct by now, yet they have left a very good concept album based on the story of Thạch Sanh. While the language barrier makes it hard to find more info about the band, and certainly is the reason why they're largely unknown outside Vietnam, this album has a couple of really great songs that seem to have received significant publicity at home:
War metal from Vietnam? Yes, it's a thing, even if by "war metal" here I mean bands that sound more like Sabaton rather than Blasphemy. Anyway, Vietman is definitely not a metal country, and most Vietnamese metal projects I've heard so far were playing quite generic lo-fi black metal (not to mention most of them actually were started by Vietnamese immigrants inother countries). This album is quite poorly produced too (which is understandable, though), but features a completely different kind of music - heavy metal with folk and alternative rock elements. Definitely an interesting release, despite all the production flaws.
