CHTHONIC To Release 'Battlefields Of Asura' Album In October

CHTHONIC, the Taiwanese metal band recognized for its unique signature performance, will release its eighth album, "Battlefields Of Asura" — the follow-up to 2013's "Butik" — on October 12.

Formed in 1995, CHTHONIC has toured in over 40 countries, played hundreds of concerts and festivals, and become the most visible Taiwanese metal band with international publicity. In the past five years, all five members of CHTHONIC have turned a new page in their lives respectively. Frontman Freddy Lim formed a new political party and got elected into the Taiwanese Parliament in January this year, while the other members established their families. Nevertheless, they have not forgotten their promise to release new material to the fans.

This year, CHTHONIC has Randy Blythe, frontman of Grammy-nominated metal band LAMB OF GOD, and Denise Ho, iconic freedom fighter and singer from Hong Kong joining the creation of "Battlefields Of Asura".

In the lead-up to the new album announcement, secretive promotion in Taiwan raised speculation of the possibility of new CHTHONIC music, with lead track "Millennia's Faith Undone" having been remixed by Denise Ho, along with five new bands and artists with their own distinctive styles — ELEPHANT GYM, HOM SHENHAO, UNFAMILIAR FRIENDS PARTY, BISON COUNTRY and ANGRY YOUTH. The speculation even hinted the possibility of renaissance of lyrics in Taiwanese. Days ago, Denise Ho published her version of "Millennia's Faith Undone", as her first Taiwanese song mixed with the voice of Freddy Lim throughout the song, which has become a hit in Taiwan and Hong Kong. As conversations about the relation between the song and CHTHONIC continues, the answer is finally revealed today that the 60-second preview of the original "Millennia's Faith Undone" will be published by CHTHONIC, with the full version released on September 4.

View the 60-second teaser of "Millennia's Faith Undone" below.

"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."