Zuriaake
Afterimage Of Autumn

I was desperately looking for a band that could make me feel the same emotions as Drudkh. Not that I haven't found any, mind you, but that particular feeling of the Ukrainian band capable of making the hairs on your back stand up in just a few notes is truly unique... The thrill of incredibly melancholic and warm black metal riffs, the expression of a deep love for nature, emotions forcefully thrown into your ears, pure poetry poured onto instruments. It would be natural to search for such a band in Slavic lands, perhaps in Drudkh and Hate Forest's native Ukraine, or in nearby Russia, the evergreen Scandinavia, or somewhere perpetually covered in snow and ice... Or maybe take a leap to the USA for Leviathan or poetic France for Alcest and Amesoeurs, or icy Germany for Lïam and Nestlos... None of that. Eliminate the USA, Europe, and everything Western in your search for emotion, black metal devoted to feeling and poetry. "Where on earth would you intend to find this band? In China?" you might ask, rightfully so. I'd answer: "Yes, in China."
Anyone who listens to black metal and lives in the Western world might find it hard to imagine such a musical genre not only implanted in the East but even rooted there, in the sense that it ends up assuming, in the compositions of Eastern bands, distinctly recognizable traits of the place where they live. How can there be a Chinese black metal? How can it exist without being merely a copy of the European or Western production in general? In China, there actually exists Pest Productions, a label that deals exclusively with Chinese black metal groups, like Heartless, Dark Fount, Be Persecuted, and the reviewed Zuriaake... So what's different about the musical proposal of this studded trio, with face painting and almond-shaped eyes? Why is it worthy of attention?
The answer to this question doesn't need any complex arguments in its favor, simply Zuriaake should be listened to because they are wonderful. There's nothing to explain. A completely unknown band in Italy can devastate the listener who knows how to be moved through the dense weave of roaring and buzzing guitars. The melody is a continuous flow, rising in the crescendo of the guitars, in noisy arpeggios resurfacing from an obsessive rhythmic distortion. We've seen things like this in abundance in Europe, but Zuriaake have a typically Eastern attitude in reproducing them, especially considering the lyrics sung in Chinese, with a filtered streaming that becomes one with the echo of nature awakening in all its wonder, memories of a distant and fascinating land... Even the lyrics are true poems, as in the title track, a passionate and desolate fresco of autumn, with "empty mountains" or "timeless clouds" whose charm is impossible to resist. The bass seems to dance on the piano notes, while the guitar is a desperate cry accompanying the vocal's pain. The drums support the litanies in a placid way but explode slowly when the scream becomes unbearable, in double pedal accelerations that never seem aggressive but rather like a slow pouring of accumulated pain into the song's notes that were, until then, growing with suppressed emotionality and anger. Similarly, drums and bass often ally, defining a rhythmic base that accompanies the ballad like a dance, perhaps supported by piano or wind instruments, but always against the backdrop of a heartbreaking voice. It's hard not to be moved by such a declaration of intent, by music that seems painted with a brush, trying in every way to pierce the heart, gently depicting the soul's anxieties in the face of time passing and nature's majesty. And the title track, the marvelous "Afterimage Of Autumn", is just a small example. Let's think also, just to name one, of "River Metempsychosis", an emotional trip like few others, a song carried by a delicate but immensely painful arpeggio, while voice and second guitar annihilate, providing a counterbalance to the sweetness with their passionate despair. We could mention all the songs, like also "God Of Scotch Mist", where they seem to approach solutions closer to the European sound of Drudkh and perhaps also the Darkthrone school, but always in an excellent manner; or "Forest Of Twilight", which would be reductive to define as "epic," with its ascending and descending notes, as the epicity is only a thread in a much more complex and intense weave of emotions. The same is found in the unhealthy and fiercely black violence of "Sirious", but also in the environmental and slightly horror solutions with those ghostly choirs of "Return Journey", achieving the desired effect, with string instruments deriving from a distinctly Chinese folklore. Not to mention the new age sounds, fished out from nature, that often appear, as in the melodic and calm "Moon of Frost", which seems like the tear fallen from the pain of the previous tracks.
Having said that, I don't believe there's a need to add more. I believe anyone who appreciates the more emotional black metal that demands true feelings from music would do well to overlook (forgive the silly pun) the almond-shaped eyes of the band and try to get this black and painful Masterpiece. Wonderful.