BIO | Crescent Lament

Biography 樂團介紹

"By integrating sorrowful stories in Taiwan with folk metal music, Crescent Lament presents to listeners aesthetic melodies with a touch of grief."

    Founded in 2007, Crescent Lament—a band that was specially mentioned and recommended by heavy metal band Chthonic’s leader Doris Yeh in an exclusive interview published by the magazine Terrorizer in 2011—is a folk metal band of the island country of Taiwan in East Asia.

    By integrating sorrowful stories in Taiwan with folk metal music, Crescent Lament presents to listeners aesthetic melodies with a touch of grief. With relentless efforts, their work is recognized by prominent artists. In 2009, the band opened Lacrimosa’s Sehnsucht world tour concert in Taiwan. Subsequently Crescent Lament was invited by Chthonic to open their world tour concert in Taipei. In Epica’s 2013 world tour, Crescent Lament served as the support band of Taipei concert. In 2015, the band once again earned the opportunity to open Lacrimosa’s UnterWelt tour and Xandria’s Fire & Ashes tour in Taiwan.

    In addition to the local concerts and festivals, Crescent Lament has been dedicating their efforts to spread Taiwanese cultures and music worldwide, and constantly interacts with foreign audiences through global social medias and overseas festivals. Among them, Crescent Lament attended Metal Female Voices Fest Xlll (2016) in Belgium, and got positive feedback from listeners and music critics.

   Crescent Lament released their debut album Behind the Lethal Deceit in 2011. Inspired by the civil wars in the former Yugoslavia, Crescent Lament related the tragic history in the country to Taiwan. Sharing a similar historical context, Taiwan has seen ethnic conflicts and outside invaders, which offered an anti-war theme to the album. The band ingeniously borrowed the dark and sorrowful elements from metal music to depict the foolishness and vice of war. Behind the Lethal Deceit has drawn attention of international music critics and received applauses.

    In 2015, Crescent Lament released their second album Elegy for the Blossoms. Elegy for the Blossoms is a conceptual album recounting the sorrowful story of a Taiwanese geisha that happened in the late Japanese period and early Chinese Nationalist Party period in Taiwan’s history. The main character, A-hiong, was developed based on the life of Taiwanese geishas in history, and the story describes the helplessness of Taiwanese geishas behind their smiles when greeting their clients, as they had no say over their own lives. Different from the first album, Elegy for the Blossoms was written in Taiwanese, and blends Taiwanese history, culture, and metal music, while using traditional Taiwanese and Japanese instruments to create a sorrowful yet beautiful atmosphere. The album cover was designed by the well known Taiwanese illustrator KCN, with a modern retroactive image.

    Crescent Lament’s third album Land of Lost Voices was released in 2020. A sequel to their second album, the story continues from where Elegy for the Blossoms left off: the unfinished romance between A-hiong and her lover. Using the red thread of fate that binds the star-crossed lovers, this concept album fishes out from the river of time a heartrending tale of Taiwanese people—for all to see. Land of Lost Voices was recorded and produced by Jesse Liu (Chthonic’s guitarist), mixed by Sweetspot Studio in Sweden, and mastered by Finnvox Studios in Finland. The band collaborated with Bu-hiông, the winner of Best Lyrics of Golden Melody Awards, in writing the Taiwanese lyrics, and invited the illustrator KCN again to design a noir yet oriental album cover, a visual metaphor for a series of historical tragedies that battered Taiwan in the post-WWII era.

成立於2007年的 Crescent Lament (中文團名：恆月三途)，以民謠金屬樂風與台灣本土文化作為創作的基調，用音樂創造出深沈而華麗的闇黑唯美氣氛，刻畫出台灣小人物的悲傷故事。Crescent Lament 希望在音樂上表現出人心陰暗面的衝擊張力，除了憤怒的嘶吼、深沈的絕望、還摻雜著一絲絲可悲的期望。這也是 Crescent Lament 團名的意境：在充斥著各種負面情緒的寂靜暗夜中，新月一抹微弱的光芒，竟成人心可抓住的最後一絲希望。

Crescent Lament 第一張專輯（英文專輯）【Behind the Lethal Deceit / 末路之召】於2011年發行，內容以反戰為核心，試圖與現今台灣面臨的衝突結合，利用音樂反思訴諸武力的愚闇與和諧共存的無價。第二張專輯【花殤 / Elegy for the Blossoms】則於2015年發行。為了讓創作更貼近台灣本土文化，概念專輯【花殤】以台灣早年藝妲生活為藍本，描述日治時代到國民政府來台初期，台灣藝妲面對賣藝賣笑、送往迎來的人生，有著萬般不由己的感慨；全專輯以台語創作、並加入台日傳統民俗樂器，更道出台灣的歷史記憶跟時代的滄桑改變。

而在【花殤】專輯發行後，Crescent Lament著手構思新的創作，並於2020年推出第三張專輯【噤夢 / Land of Lost Voices】。【噤夢】以終戰後國民政府來台前期的台灣社會為背景，除了在音樂上融入更豐富的民俗樂器，也將【花殤】的主角阿香再度帶入歌曲中，藉著藝妲阿香與戀人明風兩人未完的緣分，娓娓道出歷史洪流中台灣人民遭遇的悲傷故事。【噤夢】由閃靈樂團吉他手小黑（Jesse）操刀擔任製作人，邀請多位著名音樂人客座演出，並於瑞典及芬蘭知名音樂工作室進行混音與後製。歌詞上延續台語創作，由金曲作詞人武雄老師擔任顧問指導，呈現出台語歌詞的優雅與美麗。

Crescent Lament成立至今，參與過台灣各項音樂盛事，包含野台開唱、大港開唱、貢寮海洋音樂祭、春天吶喊、覺醒音樂祭…等。也曾在2012年受邀至韓國首爾表演，並在2016年10月受邀參加比利時著名音樂祭「Metal Female Voices Fest」，與當今著名的眾多國際樂團一起演出。能在各地的舞台上，唱著台語歌、唱出台灣的故事，是我們一直努力的目標。今後，Crescent Lament也將繼續發掘台灣的歷史文化，用音樂向世界傳達台灣的聲音。