Bloody Woods - "The Lament" [2016]

Artist: Bloody Woods

Title: The Lament

Genre: Neofolk

Country: China
Year: 2016

Track List:

1. Intro: Nuosu Epopoeia
2. Souther
3. The Lament
4. A Sigh for Autumn
5. A Cappella
6. Outro: Fortress Forlorn

"Over the years Neo-folk has taken upon itself the imprint of various cultures encounter through its journeying. We present to you the Lament, to communicate our own experience of sorrow and beauty, death and ruin on this ravaged land, coated with nordic tradition, to tell of the melancholy of oriental instruments, of its power to set one free"

A follow-up to "Romanzen", "The Lament" is less of a "European" and more of a "Chinese" album (and if I'm not mistaken, it's the first Bloody Woods album to feature lyrics in Chinese), with less metal and more ambient influences. Honestly it's less impressive than the other albums by Bloody Woods, but by no means bad. Really wonder what their next album would sound like (if there will be any):

Bloody Woods - "Romanzen" [2015]

Artist: Bloody Woods

Title: Romanzen

Genre: Neofolk

Country: China
Year: 2015

Track List:

1. Intro: Die Ballade Der Loreley
2. Im Tollen Wahn
3. Love Story
4. Der Wunde Ritter
5. Blasses Angesicht
6. Maliry
7. It Won't Stop
8. You Can Smile
9. Doch Sie, Die Mich Am Meisten
10. Wanderers Nachtlied
11. Sonnet 39
12. Berg Und Burgen
13. Down By The Lake

After several years of hiatus, one of the best known Chinese neofolk acts Bloody Woods (not to be confused with the Indian metalcore band Bloodywood) has released a new full-length album in 2015, and it has a more Western European character than many actual European neofolk bands. I absolutely won't be suprised if such an album was released by a German band, because it features mostly ballad-like songs with lyrics based on the poetry of German Romanticism (in particular, Heinrich Heine).

It also has some metal influences (especially doom, which isn't surprsing given that the founder of Bloody Woods, Bai Shui, is also a member of a doom metal band Solitary Piligrim), which weren't present on their earlier releases. There are also some faster/danceable songs ("Maliry") and re-recorded versons of their early sons ("You Can Smile"). Overall, it's the best Bloody Woods release so far and definitely recommended to all the fellow lover of neofolk with lyrics in German (even if it's made in China, like pretty much everything nowadays):

Mefitis - "Despair" [2019]

Artist: Mefitis [蛮蜚之魃]

Title: Despair

Genre: Progressive Black Metal

Country: China
Year: 2019

Track List:

1. Cetus
2. Ecdysis
3. Desecrate
4. Lotophagi

As a tradition, I start a series of posts about female-fronted bands on 8th of March, and let's start from an "international" metal band based out of Beijing, China, but featuring American and Slovenian musicians (no idea where's their vocalist comes from, though). Not much else is known about them except that they like to drink (well, a lot of metal musicians do, and in some cases - way too much) and overthink life and music. Also, "Anti-Burzum action" (by which they most likely mean opposing Varg Vikernes aka Louis Cachet's ideas and actions rather than music, which is totally understandable). The music is quite unorthodox black metal in the vein of Norwegian prog black scene (think how Urarv whould sound if Trish was singing instead of drumming). To quote a comment from Bandcamp:

A thrashy, raw, honest, and surprisingly creative progressive black metal gem from the depths of the underground. Don't be fooled: the production is clear and balanced, despite its rawness. The riffs are thoughtful, inspired, and refreshingly unorthodox, the bass plays far more than a supporting role, and the drummer uses his blasts creatively to great effect. I'm quite impressed, and want moooore!

Vergissmeinnicht - "Whispering Solitude" [2008]

Artist: Vergissmeinnicht

Title: Whispering Solitude

Genre: Neofolk/Neoclassical

Country: China
Year: 2008

Track List:

1. Left Forgotten
2. Wither
3. A Poem For The Shadow
4. Dimension Of Souls
5. Innocent
6. Whispering Solitude
7. My Colourless Reflection
8. Dust
9. Buried By Time
10. Depression (Abyssic Hate cover)

Very good Chinese neofolk that was already mentioned on my blog a couple of times before. The album doesn't sound particularly "Chinese", though; the same kind of music could very well be played by a band from any European country...

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SMZB - "Wuhanpunk" [2001]

Artist: SMZB
Title: Wuhanpunk
Genre: Punk
Country: China
Release date: 2001

Track List:

1. Chinese Musik
2. Save Indite Association
3. Pornographic War
4. Gamecock
   

SMZB are the first well-known Chinese punk band, and definitely one of the best (however, there aren't that many punk bands in China at all... good or bad). As you know, I'm not a big fan of "classic" punk, but i really liked this EP.

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Lostime - "Demo II" [2011]

Artist: Lostime
Title: Demo II
Genre: Atmospheric Black Metal
Country: China
Release date: 2011

One more Asian post-black metal project, which has released two demos so far. I haven't listened to the first demo, but this one is quite good (yet very short - consisting of only one untitled track).

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Anarchy Jerks - "Wuliao Contingent" [2005]

Artist: Anarchy Jerks
Title: Wuliao Contingent
Genre: Oi!/Streetpunk
Country: China
Release date: 2005

Track List:

1. Women Juebu Tuoxie (Never Compromise)
2. Oh! Sucks!
3. Oi! Lai Ba! (Oi! Is Here)
4. Dui Ni De Shenghuo Han Oi! (Oi! Is Life)
5. Loser's R'N'R
6. I Don't Know
7. Cuowu (Mistake)
8. Chinese Oi!
9. My One Skin (Hard Skin cover)
10. Ska Song

Anarchy Jerks were one of the first skinhead bands in China (if not the first). There's not much info about them except they're RASH from Beijing and have at least one more release (a split album with a band called Brainfailure). I downloaded their album "Wuliao Contingent" about an year ago from DC++, and now I decided to share it here. The music is surprisingly good, although naive. Definitely better than the music of their much more known countrymen, Misandao!

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Yngizarm (英吉沙) - "For The Motherwolf" [2006]

Artist: Yngizarm
Title: For The Motherwolf
Label: Autumn Floods Productions
Genre: Atmospheric Black Metal
Country: China
Release date: 2006
Size: 35 mb

Track list:

1. 引曲 (Intro)
2. 山川 (Mountains)
3. 为狼王 (For the Motherwolf)
4. 阴山 / Border Mountain

Yngizarm is yet another one-man black metal project from China - more specifically, southwest China, near the rim of the Tarim basin. That region is really on outskirts of the world, but a lot of suprisingly good music comes from there! The man behind Yngizarm uses the moniker "Bloodfire", and he also is a member of Hellward, Midwinter, Varuna and Zuriaake. I haven't heard any music by Hellward, but all the 3 other bands are just great. So does Yngizarm.

As far as I know, "Yn Gizarm" means "new city" in Uyghur language (so it's probably an equivalent to the Russian "Novgorod"). In Chinese it is written 英吉沙 ("yingjisha" in pinyin), but I have no idea what it means (the Google Image search returns a lot of photos of knives for this query, though). The lyrics on this EP seem to be inspired by nature and Uyghur history & mythology. I don't know for sure, but Yngizarm is probably Tengrian, like Tengger Cavalry. The only other Tengrian black metal band I know are Darkestrah - formerly from Kyrgyzstan, now relocated to Germany. Tengrianism is a pretty interesting system of beliefs, so I'd like to hear much more Tengrian metal... but the countries in that area are extremely poor (especially Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan), and rock/metal music is almost unknown there.

Many people have compared this EP to Emperor's album "In The Nightshade Eclipse", and I'd agree with them. Not as original as Tengger Cavalry's first EP, though, but still very good.

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Tengger Cavalry - "Tengger Cavalry" [2010]

Artist: Tengger Cavalry
Title: Tengger Cavalry
Label: Dying Art Productions
Genre: Folk / Black Metal
Country: China
Release date: 2010
Size: 25 mb

Track list:

1. 长调 (The Long Tune)
2. 长生天铁骑 (Tengger Cavalry)
3. 狼血 (Wolves' Blood)
4. 风 (Wind)

This is one of the most original releases I've ever came across. Tengger Cavalry is an one-man project from China led by 张天然, who's interested in Mongolian culture, shamanism and Tengrianism (the Altaic paganism). The music is blackened folk metal with some elements of traditional Mongolian throat singing. Really interesting stuff, but this EP is way too short... However, a full-length album titled "Blood Sacrifice Shaman" was released a couple of months ago - but unfortunately I haven't found it anywhere.

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Chinese neofolk compilation: 新民谣印象：像一场年代久远的沉沦

Artist: V/A
Title: 月之深海系列专题之二 — 新民谣印象：像一场年代久远的沉沦
Genre: Neofolk
Country: China
Release date: unknown
Size: 50 mb

Track List:

1. Argine - Memorie
2. Tempesta Noire - Book of Life
3. 夜郎 - 敕勒歌
4. Forseti - Sei Nun Still
5. In Gowan Ring - Two Towers
6. Nebelung - Heimsuchung
7. The Golden Bough - 船歌 (Ship Song)
8. Novalis - Human
9. Tenhi - Kuolleesi Jokeen
10. 野孩子 - 红河谷

Please don't ask me where I found this really rare stuff - honestly I can't remember. I tried to find out more about this compilation, but the google search yields only one result - a post in some Chinese blog, which is deleted by now. So, all i know about this compilation is that it was originally posted at musicmoon.com , and it contains 7 tracks by European neofolk bands (the rest - by Chinese ones).

China seems to be full with good neofolk projects, and I spent a lot of time to find more info about them. Unfortunately, almost all the results were in Chinese, and even Google Translate didn't help much. I could find only a little info about The Golden Bough (they're known to some European neofolk fans because they participated in the sampler "Penumbra over Beauty" with the song "The Fool"), and only in very broken English: "The Golden Bough from Chongqing China is now living in Beijing, devotes in folk in a special grence , whinch contains several styles such as dark folk, dark wave, Chinese characteristic & so on. The songs The simplemindedness & Barcarolle are the most interesting to listen to" (original spelling and grammar kept intact). Anyway, they're the first neofolk band singing in Chinese I had come across. I think they're can be called "the Chinese Current 93". The rest of the compilation is enjoyable as well, and I doubt if you can find it anywhere else.

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Gol Dolan - "The Traces Of Mist" [2009]

Artist: Gol Dolan
Title: The Traces Of Mist
Genre: Neofolk
Country: China
Release date: 2009
Size: 70 mb

Track List:

1. Intro
2. The Traces Of Mist
3. Balmy Of Reminiscence
4. Sorcerer’s Pearl
5. Exercise Of Heart
6. The Memory Of My Islamic
7. Leippya
8. Mermaid
9. Star Atlas
10. The Endless Knot Of Soviet Union
11. The Eternal Return
12. Ataraxia
13. Story
14. The Lay Preacher
15. The Endless Knot Of Soviet Union (Version Guitar)

Gol Dolan is an another Chinese neoclassical/neofolk project, consisting of Do Lan and Bo Wen. The duo was formed in Beijing around 2005, and has four releases (+ one demo) so far. "The Traces Of Mist" is their 2nd full-length album, featuring 15 mostly instrumental tracks. Not as impressive as Bloody Woods or Eltan Renaxy, but still very beautiful music. And some of these track names are, hmm... original. "The Endless Knot Of Soviet Union"?.. Interesting.

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Eltan Renaxy - "Weird Ballads In My Town" [2007]

Artist: Eltan Renaxy
Title: Weird Ballads In My Town
Genre: Dark Folk / Gothic Ethereal
Country: China
Release date: 2007
Size: 40 mb

Track List:

1. Intro
2. A Ballad
3. Jordi
4. Renaxy
5. Lorida
6. Maria
7. Shel's
8. Karffen
9. The End

Eltan Renaxy is an another Chinese dark folk project which was founded in 2006 by Bai Shui (also in 白水, Bloody Woods) and Lamia (who also has a project called The Whisper Of Tears). Don't know what the name "Eltan Renaxy" means, but it sounds very beautiful - just like their music. Such a shame it currently has less than 500 listeners on last.fm... in my opinion, ER deserves over 9000 listeners at least. And who said that the dark folk is only the european music?... Chinese people can play it even better! And not only Bloody Woods and Eltan Renaxy prove it... just look at Vergissmeinnicht, Gol Dolan, or The Golden Bough.

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Bloody Woods - "Women In The Hole" [2006]

Artist: Bloody Woods
Title: Women In The Hole
Genre: Dark Folk
Country: China
Release date: 2006
Size: 35 mb

Track List:

1. Intro
2. Love of the Fall
3. Body-Chain
4. You Can Smile
5. Flower Pool
6. Hidden Funeral
7. Ride On
8. Women In The Hole

Hmm... Chinese neofolk? Not bad, not bad. It was the first Chinese dark folk album I ever heard, and I still like it a lot, despite its quality of production (it really sounds like a home-made demo... but who cares?) My personal favourites on this album are "Body-Chain", "You Can Smile" and "Love of the Fall" (even though the voice in the last mentioned track sounds a bit weird). Beautiful music, the truly melancholic atmosphere... check it out!

From last.fm: "Bloody Woods is a Chinese neofolk project started in early 2005 by Bai Shui (白水, Eltan Renaxy). Late december 2005, Gu Dao joined Bloody Woods as guest vocalist. August 2006 saw the selfreleased EP “Women In The Hole”. One month later, Go Dao and Bai Shui’s roads diverged again, making Bloody Woods a one-man project again". Don't know if Bloody Woods are still active, but Eltan Renaxy are very good too, and I'm going to post their album right now.

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Black Sun K-Evil - "EP4 - 0820" [2004]

Artist: Black Sun K-Evil
Title: EP4 - 0820
Genre: EBM / Electronic
Country: China
Release date: 2004
Size: 13 mb

Track list:

1. Intro
2. 人罪
3. 被梦遗忘
4. 消逝

Black Sun K-Evil is an one-man industrial electronic project from Beijing, China. Chinese industrial music is quite a rare thing, most of industrial fans in the West probably know only Zaliva-D. As for Black Sun K-Evil's EP, there's some nice music, but I doubt if it can be described as EBM. BTW, now I'm searching for the album called "暗城 (Dark City)" by the same project, hope I'll find it eventually.

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