So I saw these guys live with Satyricon.
So basically, you take everything annoying about Cradle of Filth and you get Chthonic. By no means these guys are melodic black metal.
They are annoying mad metal.
I don't know why people like them when there are better bands that make mad music, like Anorexia Nervosa (Sodomizing the Archedangel).
Chthonic only has the atmosphere but not the substance. The music is all random, with no guitar riffs, and in your face synth.
What caught my attention was people digging them, and praising them as being something new.

Anyway, that is my rant, what are other people's opinions on these guys, since also I see high rated reviews on m-a.

Sounds like you've already made up your mind and its not really a discussion you are looking for.

I always was quite fond of the band, actually. I haven't heard another band that brings the unique, traditional sounds of asian culture and incorporates them into their music. If you know of any bands that can med the two sounds together in a better fashion, I'd be willing to give them a listen.

Asian culture and Metal? Try Quest for Blood:

http://www.metal-archives.com/band.php?id=3540257824

I don't like Chthonic very much; the latest album is too screechy, a bit grating, hollow sounding....very similar to latter day C.o.F, though I do like the ethnic instruments (what is it, by the way?)...though, thats a bit gimmicky.

Sigh romp on them for Asiatic BM in my humble opinion.

The already mentioned Quest for Blood and Sigh (though much more in the first 3 albums and their first two eps) as well as Magane, Birushanah, Sad Legend, Zuriaake and to some extend Sabbat (couple of songs).

Yeah, Sabbat have a few here and there. "Deathtemptation" is the one I remember most clearly, but I think I recall the songs on Born Of Evil Blood having a vaguely asian feel.

Gargoyle also have a few songs that experiment with asian folk. "Unimo Fukezu" has a mandolin-solo, "It's Battle Time" has a mandolin as a backing instrument. There are others, but I can't be bothered to dredge em up... Maybe "Gi" too, since that has some oriental-sounding riffing.

ANYWAY, so as to not turn this thread into a "asian metal band rec" thread, I liked Chthonic some time ago, but I haven't listened to them in a long time. I remember it being enjoyable melodic BM though, the use of Erhu was very refreshing as well. "Bloody Gaia Fulfilled" is their signature song now, I think.

Ive never been able to get into this band, the vocals just make me want to dismember a baby. Oriental influences are cool but there are other bands that do the same without making me an infanticidal maniac.

The thing with Chthonic to me, is that they sound to some kind of a bad CoF. Only the singer, makes me shiver. I mean, it's not as he was growling in the most generic way, he screams like only one person does, you can't forget the influence. As the music, from what I've hear it's interesting, not much more. Maybe I didn't give them enough chance, but from what I remember and heard, I agree with the OP, they are way overrated.

The vocals never really bothered me, but I generally was never annoyed by Dani Filth's vocals either.

Chthonic is a decent band, although i think they overdo it with the keyboards.

I have to admit I"m a bit of a Chthonic fanboy, mainly because they're one of the main bands that introduced me to black metal with Seediq Bale.

One of the things that's overlooked are their earlier albums; the 9th Empyrean is a pretty awesome album, without the cheesy synths and chuggy guitar riffs/CoFness. Decomposition of the Mother Isle/Guard the Isle Eternally, Grab the Soul to Hell, and Relentless Recurrence are all underrated old songs of theirs which, in my opinion, sold the deal for me. It's a shame that they don't make songs of this caliber anymore (excluding Quasi Putrefaction)

I will admit that their later albums do have a definite commercial scent to them, but if there's one thing that Chthonic do well it's their live performances. There are some pretty bad songs on the latest album, but they make for GREAT live songs.

I love his vocals up until Cruelty and the Beast- after that, they simply sucked. Sounds like he's whistling. The shrieks on Dusk...are fucking awesome, possiblyh the most extreme extreme singing I've heard :)

I'm not a fan, really. They don't strike me as interesting, I'm not into their style.

Utter bullshit, they're brilliant, and are nothing LIKE Cradle at all, that comparison is just totally pathetic. Everyone compares bands to Cradle if they so what as scream like them, or play synths like them - shows how much you know. Come back when you've educated yourself.

How was the crowd reaction at your show? And where? We want to know the details man because you being a reporting for your scene, right now!!

In Seattle two nights ago, lead singer was very engaged with the crowd, also he video taped the crowed several times, and I think, my own opinion of course, the band were a bit surprised by the good turn out and instant acceptance by the El Corazon crowd and put on a fiery show for us that night.

Their music in the live setting was sizzling, energetic. And I hear what everybody is saying about being CoF clones but remember, these guys are from Taiwan, a different culture, and they are doing global scale extreme metal on a inter-continental tour. They have the cover of Terrorizer magazine, for devil's sake.

Surely, the OP can elaborate on how Chthonic did not meet his or her expectations. For the sake of metal knowledge and Satan, of course.

But I have to say "annoying black metal" is not a real category. Please elaborate on your Chthonic hate.

{See how I am putting some little details in my response?}

I've always found Chthonic more reminiscent of Emperor than of Cradle.

Image-wise, they make me think of Cradle. Of course, their popularity is attributed to two things that spring to mind in an off-hand fashion:

They have an Asian chick (or 2?) in the band, and by gosh, if it didn't work for Gallhammer, it will work for these fellas!

- They use that Chinese instrument, the 'er hu' which makes one think back to the early 80's when kung fu movies were at their peak in the west (before that dreaded Daniel-san and Michael Dudikoff started dominating the scene,dammit!).

Oh, and Terrorizer Magazine goes ga-ga over them, which means, well, everything, doesn't it?

Oh you noticed the "Asian chick". You seem to be dissing the band because they have an "Asian chick" and that's not cool. The "Asian chick" you speak of is the bass player for Chthonic. You need to learn a little respect. I have Gallhammer's "The Dawn of..." which sounds nothing like Chthonic. Gallhammer sounds like Shonen Knife with grindcore. So your weak comparisons are rather uninformed.

I don't have any opinions on the native instrument "erhu". It did not play a big part in the live/club setting here. Other people have mentioned that Chthonic has a broader sensibility with their artwork, so they are well known to have a bigger show when the venue is appropriate.

In a small venue the band are quite vicious. And the bass player is a bit of eye candy for the marketing department, but on stage, she gives no less of a performance than Shane Embury gives at ND every show.

You seem to be mistaken; I've praised the band before in a previous post a while back.

That said, they are good, not great, and their Asian "uniqueness" is definitely helping them become popular, and that is neither a good nor a bad thing, it is just the way it works in the 'scene', I mean really, how many undeserving bands are out there that are popular not so much because of their music but because they came from Florida/Norway/Gothenburg etc?

Their sound on 'Seediq Bale' is highly reminiscent of latter-era Emperor with some Cradle of Filth aesthetics thrown in for good measure, I can't comment on their other albums however.

They don't strike me as a particularly interesting nor innovative band and as mentioned by waiguoren (who managed to make a relevant point, for once) a lot of their popularity hinges on the fact they're asian and OMG THEY USE AN ASIAN INSTRUMENT!! The presence of a chick is purely there to lock in the lonely, virgin metalhead demographic who are no doubt fapping furiously as we speak.

Overall they're a fairly useless band and I can't see them waning in popularity anytime soon due to appealing to the lowest common denominator.

Also matrixmetal, no one was comparing the sound of Chthonic to Gallhammer; stop being retarded.

I actually really like ChthoniC. Main reason because of the erhu.
The new album was too much like Cradle of Filth, but they still had their original brand of songwriting

Their music doesn't really do much for me, although they are enjoyable live. Not many metal bands that do dual erhu solos. Freddy's stage presence is always impressive.

While I'm largely unaware of their popularity, I disagree with the notion that it is undeserved. They're not some bandwagon-hopping group that got together a few months ago; they've been at it for more than a decade now, albeit with numerous lineup shifts, with Freddy being the sole original member. And out of all the other members, Doris has been in the band for the second longest (since '99)so to say she's just a sex object would be doing her a great disservice.

Like I said earlier, their music doesn't do much for me but I have great respect for what Freddy's done for the Taiwanese metal scene. If anyone's interested in reading about his contributions, here's a good article on 'em.

I've been a big fan for years and it's surprised me how they've taken off. I remember I used to be somewhat put off by the abysmal drumming but that's been taken care of.

It's really interesting to hear their older stuff live, their new guy rips the ex-drummer's head off with his arrangements.

I saw them on what I believe was their first US performance. It was at a Metal Fest that was held in NJ back in like 2001 or something like that. Awesome performance!