Tag Archives: freddy lim

New Year’s Music Resolutions for 2014: Chapter 2

new year's music resolutions

Welcome back to our annual series of “New Year’s Music Resolutions”; it’s our third year doing this and still a blast to get a glimpse inside these talented artists plans for the year. That said, let’s get down to business with the second chapter.

1. Mike LePond (Symphony X): My New Year’s Music Resolution is to release a new Symphony X and a new Solo album all in the same year.

2. JUNGLE ROT: To keep positive about our Industry when things go wrong or bad, I will make the best of it. Mostly while on the road, like when touring and having to make sure that we are getting paid out for the night, dealing with getting taxed on merch, even making sure to get our buy-out to eat for that day. Trying to stay positive after doing an 8hrs drive from the night before and pulling up to the venue and there is nowhere to park, even after you confirmed with the club that there would be, and to keep positive when we have to drive around for another hour trying to land a spot. (This is a sign of a bad night.) After 20 yrs. of touring and dealing with the business side of the band, it has taken a toll on me. I am starting to enjoy myself again over the last two years or so, and staying positive as much as I can has a lot to do with it. It took me a while, but I found out in the end that my bandmates have my back and will always assure me that when things get tough, that things will be all-right and will get better.
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Nile @ B.B. King Blues Club (8/21/2007)

Nile is a devastating Death Metal band with a Middle Eastern flair to some extent and shortly after their appearance on Ozzfest would deliver a crushing set of music with both Chthonic and Skinless. We had actually missed both Nile and Chthonic at the Ozzfest based on the traffic to the show, so were glad to be here at B.B. King Blues Club tonight’s fun. To see more just scroll past the logo below.

Logo - Nile

Artist: Nile
Venue: B.B. King Blues Club (New York, NY)
Opener: Chthonic, Skinless
Date: 8/21/2007
Label: Nuclear Blast Records

Since I had missed the performances by Nile and Chthonic during the previous week’s Ozzfest, I was happy to find the pair doing a show at B.B. King Blues Club on one of the festival “off” nights. This show would allow both of the bands to deliver a full set of material as opposed to the twenty minutes that they were allotted during the festival and this would truly be the better way to absorb their brand of Metal. Joining them for the show would be Skinless and while Daath was originally scheduled, that band had been moved to the Highline Ballroom to appear with their Roadrunner Records label mates Devil Driver who were also doing an “off-festival” gig..
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“A Decade On The Throne” (DVD/CD) by Chthonic

Artist: Chthonic
Title: “A Decade On The Throne” (DVD/CD)
Label: Deathlight Records
Release Date: 6/26/2007
Genre: Melodic Black Metal
Rating: 4/5

Chthonic is a Taiwanese Melodic Black Metal band that blends the elements of the more traditional Symphonic Black Metal into that of Taiwanese music and comes up with a very interesting and intriguing listen for the discerning music fan. Formed in 1995 the band is fueled by their ancient history and heritage along with its mythology and from this they aim is to bring their nations often tragic past to the minds of the people in the modern world of today. The DVD entitled “A Decade On The Throne” is an incredible live concert from the band as they deliver an absolutely pummeling set of tunes for a capacity crowd in Huashan Culture Park in Taipei, Taiwan. Filmed last year (2006), the band uses their cultures musical themes and ideas to great success and it is quite impressive to see how instruments like the Er-hu (a traditional Oriental violin) work within this context. As far as trying to figure out how the level of drama in their music plays out, just envision a little bit of what Dimmu Borgir has been doing on their last few albums but with a distinctive Oriental twist to it. The band also sings in their native tongue so unless you understand Black Metal growls in Chinese you will need to find some English translations to find out what they are singing about. Given a lot of this is based on cultural mythology and history is it surely bound to make for interesting reading. A band like this would most certainly cause quite a stir in a country like their own and according to research they have been banned in certain parts of China based on their own political stand and views. Lead singer Freddy Lim is quite active in the political aspect of his country and stands firm on issues like Taiwanese independence and negationism (which is also referred to as Historical revisionism).
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