Best Chinese and Taiwanese Metal Bands

One of the only raw black metal projects in Taiwan. His songs are greatly related in style to bands like Mayhem and Burzum, and usually come from his own experiences with ghosts (he apparently lives in a pretty haunted area). If you are just too try kvlt for the other options, this takes the cake.

BEST above all, true black metal.

Flesh Juicer easily blends heavy-hitting deathcore with cultural elements into their music and are gaining respectable fame in Taiwan. Their unique style of deathcore gives them an upper edge, and it's no wonder they won the Taiwan Golden Melody Award for Best Indie Rock Band. Also, the singer wears a pig mask at concerts. I bet none of the other bands on the list have an iconic image like that!

The only band most metalheads MIGHT know from China or Taiwan is probably Chthonic. Known for black metal mixed with Chinese folk music, these musicians take it a step further by talking about historic moments in Taiwan's past and really convey the energy and emotion from back then into their music. Also, the lead singer is a politician. How crazy is that?

Nocturne Moonrise is slowly growing in fame, but they are best known for creating one of the most memorable levels on the rhythm game Cytus with their song Gate of Expectancy. This band has the wondrous talent of mixing speed metal with symphonic and neoclassical themes and orchestrations, and with the great singer Alexx, master pianist and operatic female vocalist Mei-Ying, and crazy guitarist Hiro, they are gaining respect in the underground Taiwanese metal scene for good reason.

The most well-known melodic black metal band in Taiwan, Anthelion's music is depressive and melancholy but satisfyingly has an aggressive edge to it that keeps you coming back for more. Considering how great their 2 albums are, it's a shame that they aren't as widely recognized as Chthonic.

I doubt Fearless will ever make another EP, as they have seemed to stop updating social media, but they were one of the best melodic death metal bands out there! Their theme of death and darkness mixed in with a great melodeath score and both Chinese folk and symphonic elements mixed in made listening to the Lord of Twilight EP an unforgettable experience.

If you want a not-as-popular Chthonic with less Taiwanese propaganda and more folk, this is the perfect band, as that's exactly what they are. Mix that in with a perfect atmosphere in each song, and you have an unforgettable black metal band.

The music of Nine Treasures originates from Mongolia, with the band using instruments such as a balalaika or a morin khuur honoring their traditional and ancestral origins. It's truly a great experience to listen to a folk metal band that doesn't come from western culture, and it's no wonder they won China's Wacken Metal Battle some time back.

When people think of "extreme metal", black, death, and thrash usually come to mind. But while Voodoo Kungfu is certainly extreme, it is anything but the latter. Their intriguing symbolism they display on stage (the vocalist is in a Chinese or Mongolian robe with calligraphy on the right side of his body, the drummer is blindfolded, and all of them are covered in blood) combined with their crazy performances of songs like Bruce Lee, Temporal Side, and Tibet make listening to Voodoo Kungfu a crazy experience. Their performances were enough to place them as winners of China's 2015 MIDI Festival (and enough to kick them out of the MIDI Festival 5 years ago).

Groove metal sometimes gets a bad rap, but for me, Silent Hell never disappointed while Kin Lin was the singer. Her clean and harsh vocals had good chemistry with the style the musicians played in and made some really memorable songs. Let's hope that the new lineup is just as good.

Tang Dynasty are great musicians! Definitely one of the best!