Five years since the release of their last album, in response to fans’ keen anticipation, CHTHONIC announced their new album ‘Battlefields of Asura’ last month. Today, CHTHONIC has dropped the music video for first track ‘Millennia’s Faith Undone’, featuring Hong Kong singer Denise Ho, and announced a coming tour in Hokkaido, Japan.
Doris, the spokesperson and bassist in CHTHONIC, states that “Millennia’s Faith Undone” was inspired by the era of radical change in the history of Taiwan between the 30s and the 50s, also as the prequel to their albums of story series. Birdy, the director of the music video, set the narrative after the stores in their previous music videos of Defenders of Bú-Tik Palace (acoustic ver.) and Kaoru (acoustic ver.). With an out of body experience, the main character sees the White Terror victims’ lives taken away by the dictators, and eventually himself being executed by shooting; all was left is his last will and testament overwhelmed in the mass of historical documents. Birdy recruited the crew and the lead actor and actress, Finn (黃士勛) and Chia-Yu Chang (王丁筑), from the shoot for Defenders of Bú-Tik Palace (acoustic ver.) and Kaoru (acoustic ver.) four years ago. Meanwhile, Doris also announced on Ho’s fan page the release of the music video of The Aeon’s Version of Millennia’s Faith Undone at the end of the month; the story will be told from the perspective of the lead female character. Although Birdy’s interpretation and idea might not be exactly the same as CHTHONIC’s narrative in the album, Doris found the process of re-interpretation of a piece from different artists a rewarding surprise.
CHTHONIC have also announced that they will play under the label Taiwan Beats in No Maps Music Festival at Japan, Hokkaido on October 12th. No Maps is a festival of a conglomerate of music, movies and technologies with its increasing importance as one of the most crucial events in the Japanese music industry. Moreover, as an event co-hosted by the Japanese government, private organisations and educational institutes, No Maps holds a significance in Taiwan-Japan interchange and liaison as well. Freddy, the frontman of CHTHONIC, therefore decided to make time from their busy schedule flying to Japan over the weekend for the festival. This show is also highly anticipated by Japanese fans as it will be the only overseas stop for the tour for the new album from CHTHONIC.
According to CHTHONIC, the new album Battlefields of Asura depicts the adventure of deities in Taiwan through eleven songs carrying messages about resistance, freedom and fraternity. The journey is full of hostility, adversary, impregnable fortresses and desires but also inspires infinite courage to search for eternal wisdom. Anyone deeply touched by this album will eventually realise that it is the origin of all thrilling epic stories portrayed in the past albums. This album sounds like gods versus devils and fights among evil spirits on the surface; however, everyone can feel the empathy of fury, grief and even strength of resurgence from the lyrics. When asked why the band names the new album Battlefields of Asura, Doris Yeh, the spokesperson of CHTHONIC, states that ‘this album is the prologue of the albums released in the past and was inspired by and dedicated to the activists of Taiwan’s first modern political reform movement back in 1920s.’