Metal Mania comes to town

By Gavin Phipps
STAFF REPORTER
Friday, Nov 25, 2005, Page 13

Freddy's back! Chthonic.

If you suffer from migraines or are of a nervous disposition, then several of Taiwan's leading music venues are probably best avoided this weekend, as it's that time of year once again when the nation's most vociferous bands crawl out of the woodwork in order to celebrate that loud and earsplitting musical genre commonly referred to as heavy metal.

From tonight through Sunday, 13 of Taiwan's best metal bands and two equally loud Japanese acts will be teaming up for the Invali-Fest (大威震金屬制霸) and will bring with them their deafening buzzsaw guitar barrages of noise and unholy lyrics.

Organized by TRA Music, the same bunch of musical miscreants that bring us the more mainstream Formoz Festival (野台開唱) every July, the Invali-Fest was previously known as the Metal Immortal Festival and is now in its eighth year.

Along with the name change the event, which has long been a solely Taipei-based one-day affair, has been extended to a two-day bash in Taipei and will see several of the big name acts taking to stages in Taichung and Kaohsiung over the course of the weekend.

666 is the number of this band.

"Originally it was a small one-day event, but this year we decided to make it larger and take it on the road," said TRA's Freddy Lin (林旭佐). "It's not like all fans of heavy metal live in Taipei so it seemed fair to give people in Taichung and Kaohsiung the chance to see the bands perform."

While the first festival, which was held at the long defunct venue Vibe, saw only a handful of acts and attracted more curious onlookers rather than hardcore fans of the noisy genre it has, according to Lin, long since transformed into a hugely popular event. And while turnout remains relatively low in comparison to larger festivals like Spring Scream, Ho Hai-Yan and Formoz, Taiwan's sole heavy metal festival has managed to create a name for itself over the years.

Neo Shark. PHOTOS COURTESY OF TRA

"In the first year people came because it was new. There weren't many [heavy] metal bands in Taiwan and it was a real novelty to see such acts perform here," said Lin, who, when he's not deskbound, puts on heavy make-up, dons extravagant costumes and takes to the stage as the front man for Taiwan's Golden Melody Award winning death metal combo Chthonic (閃靈樂團). "Now people come because they know about metal music and have heard of many of the bands. It's impossible to compare it to Formoz in regard huge turnouts, but I think it serves a purpose and fills a void."

Hercules.

According to Lin the number of people in attendance over the years has yo-yoed from a couple of hundred to over 1,000 and, while the event is not one of TRA's great money earners it has served its purpose well. There are now more metal bands in Taiwan than ever before and large numbers of young people, most of whom no doubt have far too much testosterone for their own good, are now avid followers of the metal scene.

LTK Commune.

"The festival has certainly been responsible for the increase in, and awareness of, heavy metal in Taiwan," said Lin. "The fact that we've been able to lengthen the event to two days shows that more and more [young] people are now interested in and playing different forms of heavy metal as opposed to simply sticking to old alt/indie/punk rock formats."

Along with encouraging local youth to emulate the likes of well-known heavy metal acts like Motorhead and Metallica the festival has also been responsible for an increase in the popularity of the many differing types of metal music. While keen to please fans of more mainstream heavy metal, Lin has ensured variety by booking a selection of band's this year that play everything from death to nu-metal and even the kooky sounding new age metal.

Fans of more mainstream oriented music may never have heard the bands performing this weekend, but for those metal heads in the know then the festival line-up should come as no surprise, as nearly all of the band's performing have already proven their mettle at many of Taiwan's other festivals.

Leading the local pack is the well-known "death metal" act Chthonic, a combo that has recently taken the odd step of adding a truly Taiwanese twist to its demonic sound by releasing an album on which it waxed lyrical about the souls of the dead Aboriginal heroes who took part in the Wushe incident -- an anti-Japanese revolt by members of the Seediq tribe in 1930 that resulted in the deaths and decapitations of 130 Japanese soldiers and policemen.

From Japan comes Grim Force, which models itself on Brazilian "thrash metal/death metal" band Sepultura and Zombie Ritual, a combo that is heavy on the Halloween-like make up and plays a brand of metal known as "doom metal," which is slow and heavy, evokes an atmosphere of darkness and despair and is influenced by acts such as Lord Gore and the Impaled.

Other local bands of note appearing this weekend include "nu-metal" combo 666 that along with making one hell of a racket will be promoting its recently released debut album Republic (民國), Almost Human and its hybrid sound known as "grindcore," combines hardcore punk with heavy metal and owe a debt to Napalm Death and popular thrash metal combo Infernal Chaos.

It's not all total noise, however, as the Invali-Fest also features performances by a couple of more prog-rock oriented acts like the "new age metal" combo Hercules and the "neo-classical metal" four piece Revive (重生). Along with the established acts the festival will also showcase new acts. These include Snow Shadow (雪影), which is an old-school heavy metal four piece that boasts one of Taiwan's few female heavy metal lead guitarists.

It may be a heavy metal festival but this hasn't stopped Taiwan's hugely popular nakashi driven anarchists, LTK Commune (濁水溪公社) from muscling in on the act. According to Lin, the group was asked to participate for the simple reason that "they might do something crazy" -- as if watching bands dressed up like monsters and undertakers and singing the praises of Beelzebub wasn't already crazy enough.

What: Invali-Fest (大威震金屬制霸)
When and Where: From 6pm tonight and tomorrow at The Wall (這牆) B1, 200, Roosevelt Rd Sec 4, Taipei (台北市羅斯福路四段 200 號 B1). From 6pm tomorrow at ATT (ATT 秘密基地) B1, 83, Jienguo Third Rd, Kaohsiung (高雄市建國三路 83 號 B1) and from 3pm Sunday at Nuno's Live House (老諾) B1, 2 Alley 3, Tungyuen Lane, Chunggang Rd, Longjing Township, Taichung County (台中縣龍井鄉中港路東園巷3弄2號B1).
Admission: Tickets are available at the door for all shows and cost NT$500 for the Taipei shows and NT$450 for the Taichung and Kaohsiung shows.