CHINA SCENE REPORT
By Wang Xio

Have you ever expect to hear metal is alive and kicking hard in China? Wang, editor of Painkiller Magazine speak a little bit about Chinese underground metal bands. Painkiller is a professional metal mag but unfrotunately it is written in Chinese. "Resurrection of The Gods" is a good sampler if you want to hear cool Chinese bands. If you want to know more about the scene there, contact Wang at metalfanbj@sina.com . His snail mail address is at the end of this report. Here goes the short scene report...

GATES OF MEDITATION
Studio project of Painkiller Mag editor and Mort Prod. Maybe the 1st China Power Metal Band, but definitely a good one! Made in China, Powered by Metal!

SUFFOCATED
Formed in early '96 this quatett from Beijing is one of the few still death metal playing bands from the first chn. death metal generation. Nowerdays they are a hot live act preforming fucking cool grooving melodic death metal. THE hopefulls of chn. underground. You must haven seen them on stage!

RITUAL DAY
Formed in 2000 to give the chinese a band that created death black metal. Around this time, most bands played death metal and hardcore in the veins of Pantera, Cannibal Corpse, Amorphis etc. RITUAL DAY had a bit different influences and focused more on to create a much more dark and evil sounding music, in the beginning influenced by Samael, Dissection and Opeth. China's most respected black metal band.

BEELINE
Tempering the aggression of black metal with a traditional Florida-style death metal influence, Beeline explores a special extreme metal style. They firmly based their underground status in Chongqing, the biggest city of south-central China from late 2000. After pitching in the rehearsal and live performance, Beeline released their first demo CD "You" They recorded a new song for this compilation themselves and Mort Production remastered it.

VOMIT (CN)
Tianjin's Vomit is a still living old school death metal dinosaur, which has kept their local underground leading status for nearly a decade. In 1998 they released their first self-titled 4-track demo, and received countrywide acclaim in underground scene. This track is taken from their coming demo CD "owe" and remastered by Mort Production.

BLOODBATH (CN)
Inspired by 80's speed and thrash metal legends, Bloodbath continued the honor of metal tradition. Formed on a cold day of 1999's winter in Beijing, the band thirsts for the massacre and war against all the weak and false in the world. This track is taken from their self-titled 4-track demo tape and remastered by Mort Production.

SERAPH (CN)
Hailing from Beijing, Seraph formed in November 2000 highly influenced by Nightwish, The Sins of Thy Beloved and Theatre of Tragedy. The blend of melodic female vocal and evil black backing curse created a unique gothic doom metal style. After two successful performances in underground gig, they recorded this track in Mort Production and stick to their march towards metal glory.

PURGATORY
Hailing from Kunming, Yunnan province, Purgatory formed in August of 1999, and since then they built themselves to be the black metal warriors devoting to Armageddon. This track is taken from their not-for-sale demo CD "Purgatory" released in 2001 and remastered by Mort Production.

ROTTEN CORPSE (CN)
Formed in August of 1998, Cankered Corpse released their anger and power with death metal style. The band is from a historic city Xian, which shocks the whole world by Terracotta Warriors and Horses of Qin Dynasty. Now prepare to be shocked by their ultra brutal works. This track is taken from their demo CD "Mayhem"(limited to 500 copies) and remastered by Mort Production.

ENDOPURECENCE
This ultra brutal death metal band formed in 1999 hailing from Beijing. They firmly base their sound on combining the complexity of Sinister and the Brutality of Cannibal Corpse. Chen, the leader of this legion, is one of the publishers of Painkiller, No.1 Chinese heavy music magazine. All gore death freaks will need and enjoy this intense perversity and sadistic violation in algolagnic atmosphere. This track is recorded and mastered by Mort Production.

HADES (CN)
Among the vanguard of China's second generation of bands, Hades which formed in 1993, is one of the first doom death metal bands. They recorded a not-for-sale demo in 1999 and disbanded later. But most of their songs can be found in several official compilations released in China. This track is originally recorded in Bai Hua Studio in 1996.

Other bands:
SPRING AND AUTUMN
China's Power Metal. Members from TANG DYNASTY and SUFFOCATED.
MAGAZINE
Thrash Metal
FREEZING MOON
Black Metal
MIRAGE
Power Metal

PAINKILLER MAGAZINE
c/o Wang Xiao,
Xi Cheng Qu, Bai Wan Zhuang Yin 30-6, Beijing, CHINA, 100037.
E-Mail: metalfanbj@sina.com