Band:	Tengger Cavalry
Album:	Die On My Ride
Style:	Melodic death metal, Folk metal
Release date:	June 02, 2017
A review by:	ScreamingSteelUS

01. Snow
02. Die On My Ride
03. Independence Day
04. To The Sky
05. Prayer
06. Strike
07. Ashley
08. Cursed
09. The Frontline
10. The Choice Of My Mind
11. Me Against Me
12. We Will Survive [bonus]
13. Burn [bonus]
14. Blade Of Time [bonus]

Tengger Cavalry has made it exceedingly difficult for me to care about them over the last few years. When the band debuted in 2010 with Blood Sacrifice Shaman and then found solid footing with 2012's Sunesu Cavalry, Tengger Cavalry was at the top of the Mongolian folk metal world. That might not being saying much, but the band was forging a strong reputation well outside that limited circle, even selling out Carnegie Hall with an acoustic performance in 2015. Things have changed.

These days, it seems like half of Tengger Cavalry's discography consists of alternate versions of the other half, and when interrogated closely, Nature Ganganbaigal's songwriting abilities reveal themselves to be limited. I still hold albums like Sunesu Cavalry and Ancient Call in high regard, but with the threadbare inspiration and voracious cannibalism that dog the band, I'm beginning to see Tengger Cavalry more as a proof-of-concept band than a true contender in folk metal. If I had bothered to listen to the kAAn EP released in December 2016, I might have heard the foreshadowing of some of Die On My Ride's more unusual elements: throat-singing in English, for example, with terribly mundane, regular-Joe-rock lyrics to boot, thin production, and more prevalent influence of hard rock and core-themed metal elements. Even if I had gotten to kAAn in time, however, it never could have prepared me for Die On My Ride.

The album has its moments; the instrumental "Snow" sets a mood similar to the good old days, and now and again the choruses swing into some heady, vaguely surreal atmospheres that don't clash with the band's aesthetic. But listen to Nature throat-singing (well, mumbling, slurring, really), "This ride? so freaking long" out of time with the music and you'll feel as dispirited as Emperor Mozhu of Xi Xia in 1227. Nature sounds winded, tired, and disinterested throughout so much of this album, and the fact that Tengger Cavalry naturally has a really sparse, confined sound makes the album feel compressed and low-impact - an impression not ameliorated by occasional tuning malfunction. The band is beginning to break at the seams where the metal and traditional elements meet. All the songs are so short and bare that they feel more like sharp spurts of sound than completed compositions, and half of them feel like they were written for a different kind of band entirely.

I want to say that Die On My Ride is a terrible album because of how disillusioned it has caused me to become with Tengger Cavalry - but it isn't. Except for "Ashley." Emperor's black bones, that's the worst song of 2017 and I've already hit this year's Suicide Silence and Six Feet Under. No, for the most part, this album is just boring and mildly dissatisfying, a sign that Tengger Cavalry is struggling to keep its head above water and that things could very well get worse from here. "To The Sky" and "Strike" are halfway decent, and "Prayer" is a killer closer, but aside from the latter I can't say Die On My Ride has anything that would impress me outside the context of itself. I went back and revisited Sunesu Cavalry for the first time in ages, and the stark contrast between these two albums is appalling. Standing Sunesu Cavalry next to Die On My Ride is like pitting a Deinonychus against a comatose penguin.

The last time the Mongol hordes failed this miserably was Kitbuga's defeat at the Battle of Ain Jalut in 1260. Thank goodness Nine Treasures stepped up to the plate with a brilliant album so the world could get its fix of Mongolian folk metal this year. Tengger Cavalry is, as I mentioned, the most well-known artist in Mongolian folk metal, at least internationally, but no one should feel compelled to stop there; if you, too, are discouraged by Die On My Ride and the Cavalry's downward trend, look elsewhere to 颠覆M, Suld, Mihundian, and the aforementioned Nine Treasures. Leaving Mongolia for parts east and south, VooDoo KungFu released a new song a couple of months ago, and Black Kirin, Zuriaake, and Tang Dynasty play excellent Chinese folk metal.

And if you just feel like some good, old-fashioned Mongolian folk, sans the metal, have some fun with Huun Huur Tu. Don't waste your time with Die On My Ride.