Five years since the release of their last album, in response to fans’ keen anticipation, Taiwanese metallers CHTHONIC announced their new album “Battlefields Of Asura” last month. Today, CHTHONIC has dropped the music video for first track “Millennia’s Faith Undone”, featuring Hong Kong singer Denise Ho, and announced a festival appearance in Japan.

Doris Yeh, the spokesperson and bassist in CHTHONIC, states that “Millennia’s Faith Undone” was inspired by the era of radical change in the history of Taiwan between the ’30s and the ’50s, also as the prequel to their albums of story series. Birdy, the director of the music video, set the narrative after the stores in their previous music videos of “Defenders Of Bú-Tik Palace” (acoustic version) and “Kaoru” (acoustic version). With an out-of-body experience, the main character sees the White Terror victims’ lives taken away by the dictators, and eventually himself being executed by shooting; all was left is his last will and testament overwhelmed in the mass of historical documents. Birdy recruited the crew and the lead actor and actress, Finn and Chia-Yu Chang, from the shoot for “Defenders Of Bú-Tik Palace” (acoustic version) and “Kaoru” (acoustic version) four years ago. Meanwhile, Doris also announced on Ho‘s fan page the release of the music video of The Aeon’s version of “Millennia’s Faith Undone” at the end of the month; the story will be told from the perspective of the lead female character. Although Birdy‘s interpretation and idea might not be exactly the same as CHTHONIC‘s narrative in the album, Doris found the process of re-interpretation of a piece from different artists a rewarding surprise.

CHTHONIC has also announced that its will play at the No Maps music festival in Japan on October 12. No Maps is a festival of a conglomerate of music, movies and technologies with its increasing importance as one of the most crucial events in the Japanese music industry. Moreover, as an event co-hosted by the Japanese government, private organizations and educational institutes, No Maps holds a significance in Taiwan-Japan interchange and liaison as well. Freddy Lim, the frontman of CHTHONIC, therefore decided to make time from their busy schedule flying to Japan over the weekend for the festival. This show is also highly anticipated by Japanese fans as it will be the only overseas stop for the tour for the new album from CHTHONIC.

“Battlefields Of Asura” track listing:

01. Drawing Omnipotence Nigh
02. The Silent One’s Torch
03. Flames Upon The Weeping Winds
04. A Crimson Sky’s Command
05. Souls Of The Revolution
06. Taste The Black Tears
07. One Thousand Eyes
08. Masked Faith
09. Carved In Bloodstone
10. Millennia’s Faith Undone
11. Autopoiesis

According to CHTHONIC, “Battlefields Of Asura” depicts the adventure of deities in Taiwan through eleven songs carrying messages about resistance, freedom and fraternity. The journey is full of hostility, adversary, impregnable fortresses and desires but also inspires infinite courage to search for eternal wisdom. Anyone deeply touched by this album will eventually realise that it is the origin of all thrilling epic stories portrayed in the past albums. This album sounds like gods versus devils and fights among evil spirits on the surface; however, everyone can feel the empathy of fury, grief and even strength of resurgence from the lyrics.

When asked why the band named the new album “Battlefields Of Asura”, Doris Yeh, the spokesperson of CHTHONIC, stated that “this album is the prologue of the albums released in the past and was inspired by and dedicated to the activists of Taiwan’s first modern political reform movement back in 1920s.”

Fonte: Blabbermouth.net