Tengger Cavalry - Ancient Call review
| Band: | Tengger Cavalry |
| Album: | Ancient Call |
| Style: | Melodic death metal, Folk metal |
| Release date: | February 01, 2014 |
| A review by: | Susan |
01. Dance With The Wolf
02. Galloping Towards The Great Land
03. Battle Song From Far Away
04. Hymn Of The Earth
05. Echo Of The Grassland
06. Brave
07. Summon The Warrior
08. The Battlefront
09. Chant Of The Cavalry
10. Legend On Horseback
I went looking for some great folk metal since none had yet found me this year. In 2012 I took this same journey and found Wilderun on the unlikely shores of Boston; I have again struck folk metal gold in the equally unlikely city of Beijing.
Tengger Cavalry is Chinese but supports their metal with traditional Mongolian instruments and a bit of Mongolian throat singing. Absolute epic-ness is in store. Just try listening to "Brave" without jumping out of your seat or hearing "Battle Song From Far Away" without feeling intense yearning in your heart. The term "epic as fuck" just doesn't come close.
Many songs on Ancient Call whisk you directly to the ancient Mongolian plains on horseback; the wind in your hair and battle cries all around. Other songs bring to mind the misty Chinese mountains as you wander near a stream that is about to disappear into a dense forest. The pentatonic scale is heavily used, though the influence of current and classic European folk metal bands can still be heard. The styles are blended perfectly, and the result is highly unique music that still sits squarely in its metal genre.
Extreme vocals are superbly done in both Mandarin and English, and lend a texture as gritty as the desert sand. Fans of melodic folk should still do themselves a favor and listen: despite the black metal influence of some songs and lack of clean vocals all around, the melody is powerfully present in the guitars, in the lute-like dombra, and especially in the hauntingly beautiful morin khuur (or Horse-Head Fiddle), which is the national instrument of Mongolia.
What started as a solo project in 2010 has quickly grown into a cohesive and successful band with multiple albums. In 2013 Tengger Cavalry won the Best Songwriting Award at the Wacken Metal Battle Competition in China; later that year they opened for Turisas in Beijing. Whether you love eastern Asian music in your metal or just need some great folk metal, Ancient Call should be next on your list.
Listen and buy at [url= https://tenggercavalry.bandcamp.com/album/ancient-call-3]Bandcamp[/url].
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Written on 20.11.2014 by
Susan appreciates quality metal regardless of sub-genre. Metal Storm Staff since 2006. Twitter: @HeavyMetalSusan |
Rating:
9.5
9.5
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Rating: 9.5 |
Extreme folk has become a relatively recent passion of mine. As such, there was no lack of content to experience when I began my exploration. I fell hard for everything from the more traditional black stylings of Enslaved and Borknagar to the bombastic and sometimes silly Ensiferum and Equilibrium. But for every worthwhile group, there can be tens to hundreds of generic imitators. Even groups that once offered an impressive and fresh look at the style have since gone stale. I was beginning to feel like everything that could be said about epic battles had already been told. Then I discovered Tengger Cavalry. Put away your horned helmets, kids, cuz we're storming Manchuria today. Read more ›› |
Comments
Comments: 9
Visited by: 194 users
| Auntie Sahar Drone Empress Posts: 5989  |
I had this in my queue for a while, but dropped it because I had too much other pressing shit to get to. Great album and great review! Blood Sacrifice Shaman remains my favorite though 
---- I am the Magician and the Exorcist. I am the axle of the wheel, and the cube in the circle. “Come unto me” is a foolish word: for it is I that go. ~ II. VII
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| Lionthrone Posts: 121  |
Glad other people are discovering this awesome band. I've wondered for a while why they don't garner more attention on here.
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| toxx Supreme being Posts: 390  |
Pretty cool, this! Discovered this on bandcamp earlier this year, and it surprised me. In a time where folk-metal is at a low as well.
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| Andrew_Deer None,really Posts: 63  |
I love this band. That guy by the way also does music for games and films. And he's also very proud of his origins and if you like mongolian horses a beautiful mongolian plains, you should like their FB..  My most favorite song is Black Steed, from previous album. Maybe one downside for me is that there's very obvious inspiration by Arch Enemy (they don't hide it anyway) and I'm not really fan of Arch Enemy. 
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| M C Vice ex-polydactyl Posts: 3418  |
I can hear a little bit of Darkestrah on this. More evidence against the decline of folk metal.
---- "I'm here to nunchuck and not wear helmets. And I'm all out of helmets." "I'll fight you on one condition. That you lower your nipples." " 'Tis a lie! Thy backside is whole and ungobbled, thou ungrateful whelp!"
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| The Evergreen Posts: 241  |
These guys, like Wilderun, are tragically underrated. Discovered them via a thread in the forums here and I'm glad I did.
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| Frodd Account deleted |
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| Susan Smeghead Elite Posts: 6941  |
Written by Andrew_Deer on 21.11.2014 at 17:05 Yes, i see what you mean about the band's FB page! He posts some stunningly gorgeous photography from the region it seems
---- "A life all mine Is what I choose At the end of my days" --The Gathering "A Life All Mine" from Souvenirs
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| DJ Cosimoto Posts: 39  |
I love this band and I love this album. Definitely top 5 of 2014 for me. Thank you for the review.!
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