演義

Tang Dynasty are considered by many as the first Chinese heavy metal band and their debut record is today considered as a classic piece of traditional heavy metal mixed with Chinese folk influences and poetic lyrics around historical topics. It took the band six years to release a follow-up in form of "Epic". Many things happened in those six years and this album had many reasons why it was released so late. From the last record's line-up, only singer and guitar player Ding Wu as well as the drummer Zhao Nian remained in the band. Lead guitar player Liu Yijun quit only to rejoin the band on its next record while bassist Zhang Ju tragically died in a motorcycle accident. The new faces of the band are Gu Zhong on the bass as well as the now quite famous guitar player Kaiser Kuo who is now involved in the promising progressive metal band 春秋, also known as Spring Autumn internationally.

Not only the band members changed therefor but also the sound of the band itself. The first record included many folk elements that are almost completely gone on this release apart of a few breaks that are mainly included in the first two tracks. The record is overall much more rock and metal orientated as its precedessor. The track lengths have also significantly increased without sounding too experimental or progressive at the other side. The tracks are well structured without having minute long solo passages or acoustic breaks and therefor the album is less diversified and surprising as the band's first srike, but straighter and maybe more modern. Gone are also the catchy choruses that made the first record so catchy and fresh. The new songs need several tries before they really grow. The charismatic vocals have also changed and sound less high pitched and more grounded than before. You really have a lot of differences between this album and the first and only the technical perfection of the musicians, the language and the lyrical topics have remained quite the same.

Personally, this record sounds much more professional and less emotional than the first one but many tracks are way too long for their own good. The opening title track "演义 (Epic)" starts with three minutes of inoffensive guitar riffs and doesn't kick off very well. The whole thing is followed by one of the rare folk breaks that doesn't sound too impressive and it's only after more than five minutes that the vocals actually set in. Many tracks have this kind of problem and could have been shortened. The mid-tempo track "时间 (Time)" takes too much of its own title and the calm and rather progressive rock influenced "缘生缘灭 (Circle Of Destiny)" also feels quite stretched. The band did the terribel mistake to chose three epic songs to pen their album and many people may be discouraged and abandon quite fast. That wasn't the band's smartest move.

At least, the solid grower "异乡客 (The Visitor)" has some more impressive instrumental parts and includes some slap bass parts as well as a couple of heavy and addicting riffages while "路桥 (Roads and Bridges)" comes along as a beautiful progressive rock ballad that could have been created by Genesis or Yes during their best era in the seventies. These two songs prove us that the band is still able to write solid epic tracks and they could have been included on the first album without sounding too much out of space.

In comparison to the long tracks, the shorter ones work much better. Only the instrumental "童年 Childhood" is surprisingly boring and useless. "你的幻境 (Your Vision) is maybe one ballad too much on the album even though it has beautiful acoustic guitars and some pumping bass parts.

The two other songs are though very strong and have something interesting to offer. "黑色幽默 (Black Humor)" is definitely the heaviest track on the album and feels like a fresh breath after the three opening epics. The closing "送别 (Farewell)" is a beautiful ballad that is the only track that is more influenced by traditional Chinese music. The track includes some really floating female vocals that should have had more space in this song. On the other side, Ding Wu definitely does his best job on the entire record in this closing track and sings with a lot of emotions. The song focusses a lot on the vocals and it works out because the singer is indeed very skilled. The track is very meditative and has nothing to do with metal music but it has this magic feeling that was present on the first record and that I missed throughout this second release of Tang Chao.

In the end, I must give the band some credit for the fact that they walked on new pathways and didn't copy the sound of their first release. On the other side, they lost some important parts of their uniqueness on this record. The band probably wanted to sound more epic, professional and progressive but writing long tracks doesn't mean that they are automatically atmospheric, diversified and intellectual. The band sounds too professional at times and many of the longer songs feel stretched. The band decreased not only the excellent calm folk influences but also the heavier tones. This contrast made the band so interesting but they moved away from both extremes and sound somewhat directionless at some moments.

This all sounds quite negative and this record is a step down after the excellent debut record but we still have many great tracks that need some time to ignite but that will ultimately burn. From time to time, one still gets to hear what one liked so much about this band on its first strike. A truly bad song is not included on this record but a couple of average tracks, a few very good ones and a little bit less truly great ones. Overall this justifies still a solid rating and any fan of Chinese culture and music should follow this band and check out its three main releases. It's a shame that this band is still rather unknown outside their homeland and that almost no reviews have been written for them on this site. I hope my review spreads the band's name. If you're intrigued, I would really suggest you start with the band's first record, though while the third and until now last one is also clearly better than "演义 (Epic)".