Blackened doom metal with accordion from Sichuan - A review of 腐尸爱美丽 / Twilight Blooming's 远方 / Far Away

If translated literally, 腐尸爱美丽 would be called Carrion Loves Beauty but the band goes under the name Twilight Blooming instead since the last two years. The record 远方, which literally translates to Distance, is known as Far Away and is the first studio album of the sextet from Chengdu in Central China, a city that has come around with quite a few interesting metal bands over the past few years, varying from quite mean gothic black metal bands like Original Sin to smooth folk metal bands in the key of Darkness over Depth. Twilight Blooming can be seen as a mixture of both extremes but rather tends towards folk than black metal.

Far Away sometimes flirts with emotional and varied black metal vocals but also features calm melodic clean vocals. Musically, the songs are overall mid-paced which is quite unusual for a group with extreme metal influences. The slow riffs and precise rhythm section rather remind of doom metal stylistics. The tracks often have an epic atmosphere and offer detailed and diversified song writing without being overlong. While similar bands stretch their songs to excessive lengths, Twilight Blooming gets to the point as no song is longer than five and a half minutes. One thing that is still missing in the song writing are some truly catchy and memorable passages. The songs sound quite atmospheric and have great flow but still fail to stay on your mind or to surprise in any way.

However, there already is one specific element that really sets this band apart. This is their accordion player. The instrument isn't overused but strategically employed. It can give the longer and slower songs a melancholic feeling while it adds an almost joyful sound to the shorter and more lively tracks. The choice of this instrument is quite unusual for a Chinese folk metal band but it pays off and is what got my attention for this group in the first place.

If a Chinese folk band with a great accordion player that flirts with doom metal soundscapes and black metal vocals sounds as intriguing to you as it does to me, go give Twilight Blooming's first studio record Far Away a chance. The band already has its own distinctive style that convinces with both melancholic and lively atmosphere. The song writing could be a little more fleshed out but the sextet from Chengdu shows a lot of potential and promise. Let's hope the band soon comes around with a sophomore effort. Twilight Blooming is a name that should be on the list of any folk metal fan.

Final rating: 80%

Please note that this song is taken from the band's 2013 debut EP entitled 江边的命运 / The Fate Alongside the River.