“After five years spent successfully spearheading a successful new political party in Taiwan, Chthonic is back, and no, they do not come bearing gifts of blackened metal. For those of us who were won over by 2013’s Bu-Tik, this is not necessarily bad news. That record, which marked a full transition from peak Cradle of Filth-esque extreme metal to soaring, folk-spliced melodeath, executed the transition with aplomb. Five years on, the latter style remains the status quo, and Battlefields of Asura handles the aesthetic with confidence indicative of half a decade of preparation.” Fog of war.
