唐朝 / Tang Dynasty - 浪漫骑士 / Knight Of Romantic (2008) - Romantic odes to past traditions of a great empire - 84% (06/11/12)

It took a full decade for the the People's Republic of China's pioneer heavy metal band to come around with a third and until now last album. While their first record was groundbreaking with its fusion of Western rock music and Chinese folk sounds and lyrics, the band's second output had its lengths and lacked of energy at some points. The third release is not as good as the band's debut release but it's without a doubt a step into the right direction.

The main problem of this release is that it is not very well balanced as there are quite a lot of calm songs in the first half of the record that rather feel like folk or soft rock songs than heavy metal epics. The songs are not bad but as the second half is much heavier, the song listing doesn't feel very well chosen in here. The first half includes many warm guitar melodies, laid back folk sounds and a few New Age influences. The title track is a perfect indicator for the spirit of this release but it lacks to stand out. The best song of the first half is definitely the warm progressive rock opener "嚎叫列车" that includes many enchanting melodies, emotional but soft vocals and great sing along passages that make you whistle with a big smile on your face. This song has the magic introspective feeling than many old tracks of this band have. This kind of music should also please to progressive rock fans of bands such as Magellan, Pendragon or Rush and this track would have been an excellent single choice for this release.

After a few rather disappointing songs, the next big highlight comes in form of "嚎叫列车" that starts with a great folk music interlude that perfectly captures the romantic charm of ancient China that has been replaced by a fast and capitalist dimension that lacks of constant identity and honorable values nowadays. This song feels like a nostalgic old to the past traditions of this fascinating empire. The track convinces with a melodic middle part including great folk melodies. Even the vocals are more emotional and the singer finally decides to hit his charismatic high notes for the first time on this record and proves that he has still a fascinating and unique voice. This track is probably the best on the entire release and unites the best qualities olf past and present Tang Chao.

After this turning point, the last few tracks are clearly hevaier than the first half. The band still varies a lot between a quite heavy and progressively chaotic piece such as the bleak "绝望至谎言" and more nature based spiritual ballads in form of the psychedelic folk rock closer "大风歌" that can be cited as the best calm song on this release. These tracks are not only instrumentally fascinating but also have meaningful lyrics and many catchy parts.

Thanks to a diversified and heavier second part, the band manages to pull off a more than just average or good album and is back with a true little folk rock and metal gem that anybody fascinated by Chinese culture should possess. Let's hope that these guys still carry on and that it won't take them another ten years or more to release a new album.