演義

Tang Dynasty’s second album, Epic (《演義》) is a bit of a change in character from their first album—partly because of a change in line-up. Singer / rhythm guitarist Ding Wu and drummer Zhao Nian are still here as the core of the band. But founding bassist Zhang Ju tragically died in 1995 in a motorcycle crash on the Zizhuqiao freeway in Beijing, instantly elevating him to something of a John Lennon or Victor Choi status in China’s rock scene. On this album the bass is handed to Gu Zhong, who has kept it ever since. We also see on this album a return of founding lead guitarist, the Chinese-American multi-talent Kaiser Kuo of Spring & Autumn—now a household name among China expats as a podcaster and commentator on Chinese current events and social issues. This was after the lead guitarist on the first album, Liu Yijun, left Tang Dynasty over differences in creative direction.

So it’s something of a minor miracle that this album saw the light of day at all, given the rough times that the band was going through dealing with both personal losses and creative splits. And it’s not a surprise that there’s a marked departure in terms of musical style from the folk-infused hard rock of the first album. There’s much less of the classical instrumentation and ancient melodies on this album, and much more of a progressive metal orientation.

The relevant metallic points of reference are no longer British proto-metal like Budgie, Deep Purple and Black Sabbath (as on the first album). Here, the character is much more in line with progressive metal formations like Fates Warning, Dream Theater, King Crimson and especially Rush. Some of the breezy guitar melodies remind one of Black Album-era Metallica as well (in a good way), as of course do the some of the sprawling song lengths. This shift isn’t a surprise, because Kaiser is notoriously vocal about his love of progressive rock and metal. Ironically, the one song which seems to run back to the proto-metal / hard-rock stylings of Dream Return is the instrumental track ‘Childhood’, which with its straightforward rhythm carries a lot of the earlier kinetic energy of that album.

Ding Wu is clearly still willing and able to pull off those awe-inspiring falsetto wails, and they’re particularly impressive on quasi-operatic tracks like ‘Epic’ and the heavy-as-hell churner ‘Black Humour’. However, he’s also capable of slowing down and producing some strong baritone performances that are textured with emotion. Along with the children’s choral vox intro and female backing vocals, the clean-toned power ballad ‘Farewell’ manages to presage some of the sheer vocal mastery and depth which are characteristic of Ding Wu’s performance on Romantic Knight.

Easily my favourite track on here, however, is the richly atmospheric Dream Theater-esque ‘Roads and Bridges’, which comes at an almost folksy sound from the other side, without using any folk instruments at all. Instead, the approach of ‘Roads and Bridges’ is to craft a rich soundscape with the melodic lead guitar, creating the impression of panoramic vision and dynamic movement. One has to admire the creativity and innovative chops of a band—again, this was put out in 1998, well before the British and Scandinavian folk metal explosion of the mid-2000s—that can create a folk-music impression like this using only electric rock instruments. Ding Wu is still singing here, but his high notes are almost secondary to the composition… like a classical Chinese painting in which the human figures sit alone and vulnerable against an awesome landscape of mountains and rivers and gnarled trees.

Honestly, your mileage may vary on whether you prefer Former Tang or Later Tang; kluseba clearly prefers the folk style of the first album, and that’s his right. Personally I find it’s six of one and a half-dozen of the other. Understanding both the band’s troubled history in the mid-90s and the relevant trade-offs and compromises they made as a result, I find I enjoy both the folksier Dream Return and the proggier Epic in roughly equal degree, for different reasons. These are, ultimately, two faces of the same band, and we’ll get to hear a more complete and masterful blending of the two styles in their much-delayed follow-up, Romantic Knight. Epic is still very much so one to recommend.

17 / 20