Wang Wen
Eight Horses

It is not every day we see a band from China, and not every day we see that band’s eighth album. A band said to be breaking new ground for Chinese bands being one of the first to play outside of China and such things. They thrive on creativity and experimentation is what is said, and this album is such a result. It is always interesting to get to know bands from strange nations, nations not usually associated with metal music, I have heard a Chinese band before but it was quite poor so will this band reclaim the honour of the Chinese metal warriors?

It is mainly instrumental, post-rock/post-metal is how I have seen their music described and they are fairly similar with other bands said to play that kind of music. They build their music on atmospheres, painting dramatic musical landscapes. There are some vocal parts, these are mainly growly and slow, a bit quiet and in the background. Good production, the sonic landscapes are well painted in large strokes. Not much in terms of variation, their path goes through a landscape that isn’t particularly varied but still has many sights to boast about. They do not conform with anything and go their own way, which is always a refreshing way to make music and not even the long playing time feels like a problem despite the album being 68 minutes long.

This is a good album, it is an album I have enjoyed listening to for a while now. I do not usually like instrumental stuff but this paints such a fascinating landscape that it is impossible not to like it. So, finally something good from China and something that doesn’t sound like a poor copy of everything else, it is definitely a likeable album. But strangely enough it was a difficult album to write about, maybe there isn’t much there to really grab imagination when it comes to review writing. But it doesn’t matter because all you really need to know is that it is a good album that also offers a fairly individual stylistic choice. It is great.

It is not the individual hit songs that makes this album great, I think it is the album as whole that is great. The musical painting is impressive, the story is well told and it is interesting. Not that much else to say about it, just that it is a recommended album that should appeal to anyone who likes this kind of music and probably to many more people as well. A fascinating musical artwork, I suggest you have a look at it.

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