The thing I continue to love about this album, now five years after it came out, is how unabashedly Chinese it is. For me, there is nothing quite so nice as taking something from somewhere else and adapting it to your particular circumstance, whether it be food, music, or whatever else. The world is filled with terrible Nordic imitators, so I am always really stoked to see bands who lean in hard to their local scene / culture / roots. This is probably one of the albums that really sent me down that path, and I will always be indebted to Zuriaake for that.
Gu Yan is an epic, sprawling, even cinematic, album, and should appeal to fans of bands like Wolves in the Throne Room and Primordial. Musically, there are serious elements of Summoning here, but most of this album is utterly unique to Zuriaake and the atmosphere they build is entirely their own.
Traditional instruments back up the backbone of the sound, not as a gimmick, but as the bedrock on which the whole edifice rests. Nowhere is this more evident than on the 21-minute long "梦邀 ( 广寒 / 仙游 / 南柯 )" "Sleepwalking (Moon Palace / Sacred Walk / A Fond Dream)".
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