Feedback: Melodic Mongolian Folk Metal

Austin Ryan
February 24, 2015

 

Mongolia‰’s rich roots of conquest and constant, often epic, raiding of sedentary societies makes it an amazing target for metal‰’s Asian storytellers. Pair the slams of a double bass drum and the aggression of snarling guitars with a loud vocalist and you have a method prime to tell stories of plunder and societies torn asunder. So perhaps it‰’s no wonder that metal made its way to Mongolia! All the same, this nascent subgenre aims to stand out by putting folk alongside electric.

Three bands (Ego Fall, Nine Treasures, and Tengger Cavalry) dominate the genre. All three hail from China‰’s Inner Mongolia province. It aptly raises some eyebrows that the big names in Mongolian Metal come from China. However, those bands that dohave a presence outside the strange, sheltered Chinese internet stress their Inner Mongolian origin.

Stressing Mongolian origin does not necessarily mean throwing off Chinese stature either. For the state and many people living in it, to be Chinese only means to be a citizen of China, all ethnicities included in one “family.‰” Not so unlike America, only America binds with the hot water of a melting pot and China binds with the blood of kinship. These bands fit the moniker of Chinese as well as they do Mongolian, but their melding Mongolian folk styles with heavy metal makes it easier to label them in English as Mongolian.

Ego Fall stand tall as the elder statesmen of this budding subgenre, having played the longest and produced the most of any of the three bands. Truly they have formed up an impressive and pretty varied repertoire over time. Pinning down Ego Fall‰’s sound in one category is a tough task. Some songs like “Legend,‰” and many others off their album Inner M constantly employ Mongolian traits such as the recognizable overtone throat singing as well as the incredibly bouncy twang of the horse-head fiddle. “The Horn Starts‰” also features whole verses of Mongolian throat singing matched with heavy guitar riffs.

In Spirit of Mongolia Ego Fall buck the folk trend and root themselves more firmly in heavy metal territory, with deep screeching vocals and pretty much heavy everything. Songs like “The Rule in Troubled Times‰” employ a strange mix of synthesizers in an odd take on a folksy style of beat. Other songs like Iron Horseshoe break from metal to return to Mongolian folk styling paired up electronically.

Ego Fall keeps things interesting between every song by making it hard to guess what they‰’ll do next. It can also make it harder to fall in love with the band due to some of its stranger character shifts. Furthermore, electric guitars dominate and lead Ego Fall‰’s instrumentation so when the folksy Mongolian elements fall out their music sometimes sounds a bit stale.

Nine Treasures stick to a more consistent style and sometimes sound more parts hard rock than metal. The singer fluctuates somewhere between rhythmic talking and deep throat singing, resulting in a strange low growl of Mongolian words. Like Ego Fall, Nine Treasures relies a lot on strings, but more so those of folk instruments than guitars. Nine Treasures songs play out a bit like old AC/DC-style rock anthems with lots of rising and falling to simple melodies. While their style can sometimes want for more, they do a great job of making songs that fit the image of galloping horses across endless grassy plains and incorporating folk instruments in a way that makes them core to their character as a band, not just a quick gimmick.

But if Ego Fall sits like a great khan on this genre, then Tengger Cavalry are the true challenger for the kingdom. Tengger Cavalry rose up in 2010 and has since hit the studio hard. The band instantly opened with an EP, then in 2011 produced their first full album, signed with an international label in 2012 to get the album out to Western audiences, made two more albums by 2014, and will soon have another one out on May 18th, 2015. Their international releases and quirky social media pages show their hunger for worldwide fame.

Led by a man named Nature Ganganbaigal (Tianran Zhang), this band of all Mongolian artists does not have a weak song. Folk instruments ride wild side by side super heavy pulsating double bass drum beats and distorted guitars. Songs like “Hymn of The Wolf‰” blend in Mongolian elements so well that you could have sworn metal was meant to include them. Others, like “Legend on Horseback‰” rely much more on the folk elements. The violent reverb of electronic distortion becomes scenic background noise to the folk instruments, until the guitar solos take the song back over.

In every song, Tengger‰’s exceptional mixing puts the band over the edge. Ganganbaigal has worked extensively as a soundtrack composer, and his ability shows in the way he mixes the sounds of each song. The folk instruments never get drowned out, but they never sound artificially loud. For such a young act Tengger‰’s almost unbelievable sound quality sets a high bar for metal as a whole. Every note resonates.

For those more inclined to the clean and craftily composed, Tengger‰’s curated sound is the way to go. If you love anthem rock, Nine Treasures is your ally. For those obsessed with the distortive elements of metal, Ego Fall should be the one to ride alongside you in battle. All three are worth checking out, as one day they will likely stand as legends in an even more fleshed out subgenre. These sweeping steppe melodies may ride to the rest of the world!