(Release Date August 21st, 2018)
TAIPAN's second album, "The Nine Battlegrounds" is a thematic concept album based on Sun Tzu's ancient book, "The Art of War." The 8-song album, co-produced by Ahrue Luster (Ill Nino, Mahinehead) and Tyler Ruehl (Noble) has an impressive list of guests and an even broader reach of musical styles, from black metal to brutal death and crossover thrash with a twist of groove. Michael Black, co-founder of TAIPAN, hand-picked the guests to play on the album, which he helped write with Ahrue and Tyler.
The album begins with a wartime intro remeniscent of classic Metallica. The auditory assualt begins with the first song, "Hades," driven by Fear Factory style drums and a hypnotizing floating solo throughout the song bringing us back to the days of ALL THAT REMAINS. The vocals are a combination of harmonic death and black metal, obviously influenced by bands like COF and Old Man's Child. The second song on the album, "Medusa," is an homage to The Queen of Snakes, and the hundreds of dead men that have looked at her. Haunting leads by Marcus Claustro from the legendary Brazilian thrash band, CLAUSTROFOBIA, along with guest bassist Ed Mowery from Nocturnus and Tiwanaku. The songs "Eat The Innocent" and "Burn The Village" belong next to eachother, as they tell two parts of one story, both produced and performed by Tyler Ruehl, owner of Blackgate Collective Studio and guitarist for the band NOBLE. "Eat the innocent" refers to ancient tribes that would attack the neighboring villages and eat their enemies in a barbaric celebration of power. "Burn The Village" tells the tale of the Spaniards first landing and burning the villages, parents first and children last.
"The Storm" is written and performed in the genre of bands like "Winds of Plague," giving a bow to the more epic sound of symphonic metal with an ancient Egyptian influence. Lots of keys and violins, just missing the predictable breakdowns. Special guest Tony Campos (Soulfly, Static X, Ministry) gives the song an extra punch. The next song, "Pestilence," has quickly become my favorite song on the album. It takes about 30 seconds for the song to finally gain speed, but the chorus makes it worth the wait. The song begins extremely harmonic , even a bit nu-metal, but when the chorus kicks in, it transforms into a barrage of blast beats and Golum-like vocals that made me wonder what the HELL the singer looks like. I imagine something from LOTR, dirty and chained to the wall. The 7th song, "Digital Religion," caught me completely off guard. The song is fast and frenzied, with amazingly clean leads performed by Michael "The Tapping Ninja" Guerrero, former guitarist for Hirax and Grim Reaper. Jessie Sanchez (Warbringer) guest appears on bass and has been known to appear with TAIPAN onstage from time to time. The song makes light of modern society's obsession with technology, even superceding God as priority. "Jesus is a cell phone/ Virgin Mary is a tower / God is a satellite with solar power" summarizes our constant cravings for technology.
Finally, we come to the title track, "The Nine Battlegrounds." Ahrue Luster, best known for Machinehead and Ill Nino, wrote and performed on this auditory gem. Jack Gibson (Exodux) kills it on bass, a pefect compliment to MIke Albert's (Megadeth) leads, both simple and complex with an echo that brings back days of KILLING IS MY BUSINESS. All in all, the album ended way too early and I find myself starting it over immediaty to listen to it again.
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Good job guys. I give it 7 * out of 10 *
www.TaipanOfficial.com
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