Style: progressive metal (clean vocals)
Recommended for fans of: Devin Townsend, SikTh, Bjork, Haken
Country: China
Release date: 26 April 2024
With the world’s second-largest population, China has a musical history spanning thousands of years. In spite of this, relatively few Chinese metal bands have reached Western audiences. OU (pronounced “oh”) is a four-piece group formed in Beijing in 2019. The band released debut album One in 2022; earnest and fresh-sounding, it didn’t register a strong impact on the seismograph of the progressive underground, but set expectations high for those who did take notice. 蘇醒 II: Frailty, released in 2024, sees the quartet return in an attempt to raise the bar again.
On the relatively uncluttered canvas of Chinese metal, OU has plenty of room to establish their own identity. While there are none of the bone flutes and plucked strings pervasive in the most well-known or stereotypical styles of Chinese traditional music, the band nonetheless incorporates the traditional when it comes to musical style and a few featured instruments, amidst a host of influences from across metal and other genres. All the lyrics are in Mandarin, with English translations listed alongside each track title; the overarching themes are inspired by Buddhist theology. The band’s sound flits across the map: their prog-metal core of exuberant, heavy buildups bursting at the seams is contrasted with electronica, ambient soundscapes, and dreamy vocal melodies.
The opening title track, “蘇醒 Frailty,” wastes no time showing us what’s in store, stacking up a wall of heavy, energetic sound that showcases the chops of everyone in the four-piece and then pulls back at all the right moments. Among the diverse musical DNA on display, there are hints of Haken and SiKth, but one of the more prominent influences is that of OU’s mentor/stan, prog metal hall-of-famer Devin Townsend. Having been paired up with the band at the suggestion of InsideOut label head Thomas Waber, Townsend subsequently served as a producer on Frailty, made more than a few posts on social media praising the band, and even made his Mandarin singing debut with a featured vocal performance. And speaking of that vocal feature, blaaaaghh – Heavy Devy starts off “淨化 Purge” with a scream, taking a backseat for the next part of the track before returning to underlay vocalist Lynn Wu’s melody with signature ragged-edged vocals. He feels a bit underused; the potency he brings makes the listener long to hear more of him.
Sometimes on 蘇醒 II: Frailty, you might think you know where a melody is going, but it zigs in a delightfully unexpected direction when you thought it would zag. This happens on a larger scale, too—instead of launching into another heavy riff after the softer, understated “血液 Redemption,” which feels like an interlude, OU takes us on a diversion into electronica-flavoured sounds with “衍生,” intriguingly translated as “Capture and Elongate (Serenity)”.
While 蘇醒 II: Frailty sits at a tight 42 minutes, and calling any of it filler would be a stretch, some tracks are more memorable than others. The second half of the album blurs a bit from one song to the next, with fewer of the Townsendian or Hakenesque buildups to smack you in the face, and the occasional passage that stretches past its natural lifespan, such as in the mostly instrumental track “歪歪地愛 yyds”.
Lyrically, it will be hard for the average Western listener to pull anything but the sparest hints as to the song’s themes, relying only on the English translations of song titles. Your mileage may vary here; prog metal has its fair share of cringey or overwrought lyrics, so it may be a welcome change for some to colour in their own interpretations between the lines of notions like rebirth, redemption, and cleansing.
Singer Lynn Wu’s voice has a thin, delicate quality to it, like a strong thread woven in and out over the instrumentals. Indeed, historically, Chinese vocal music tends to be sung in a non-resonant or falsetto voice. However, there are moments when Wu’s delivery hints at something richer and thicker, and 蘇醒 II: Frailty would benefit from leaning into these moments more. As for the other band members, you can sometimes get an inkling when the drummer is a band’s main songwriter, and that’s certainly the case here: Anthony Vanacore’s drumming is central and unrelenting in the album’s heavier moments. It also has djent-y undertones that might alienate some who dislike that style. By contrast, Zhang Jing on guitar and Chris Cui on bass are more like musical shapeshifters, molding unassumingly to the form of each track’s mood, be it heavy, ambient, or somewhere in between. There are also some tasty synth moments sprinkled throughout; they glitter and pop in “海 Ocean”, and bounce along spryly in “衍生 Capture and Elongate (Serenity)”.
Closer “念 Recall” builds a lush soundscape like falling raindrops, using only various percussion instruments and vocals. Onto this, a ‘recollection’ of a motif from 蘇醒 II: Frailty’s opening track is layered, the effect meditative and even hypnotic. The intricate textures gradually give way to an increasingly spare vocal/rhythmic pulse. “念 Recall” gives the listener plenty of space; perhaps you will use this time to meditate on the album’s overall effect. The countless details woven into 蘇醒 II: Frailty make denying the creativity, musicianship, and fresh, stimulating sound on display in this sophomore album all but impossible.
Recommended tracks: 蘇醒 Frailty, 淨化 Purge, 衍生 Capture and Elongate (Serenity), 念 Recall
You may also like: District 97, Kate NV
Final verdict: 7.5/10
Related links: Bandcamp | Spotify | Official Website | Facebook | Instagram
Label: InsideOutMusic – Bandcamp | Facebook | Official Website
OU is:
– Lynn Wu 吴玲玲 (Vocals)
– Jing Zhang 张晶 (Guitar)
– Chris Cui 崔文正 (Bass)
– Anthony Vanacore 安咚咚 (Drums)
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