Relentless Recurrence

On Chthonic's fifth release overall, 2002's Relentless Recurrence, the group (whose name is Greek for "Of the Underworld" although the band is from Taiwan) continue merrily along on their symphonic black metal path. Growled male vocals, melodic female vocals, goth keyboards, crunchy metal riffs, face paint -- yep, all the necessary ingredients are here for a commendable black metal fiesta. As mentioned earlier, Chthonic is one of the first Taiwanese black metal bands to make a splash worldwide -- as several of their releases were issued domestically for the first time via the SPV label in 2007 (to coincide with the band securing a spot on that summer's Ozzfest) and judging from such tracks as "Grievance, Acheron Poem," they should have no problem winning over Stateside fans who are keen on metal best suited for listening to in an old time castle. Nothing too fancy or notably groundbreaking here: just workmanlike, straight-ahead metal. ~ Greg Prato|