And a perfect song as well!

These guys won the W-O-A 2018 Metal Battle. There's a reason for it.

One of the first, if not THE first, extreme metal bands in China, Gu Yan is an atmospheric death metal album that contains classical music tropes (both western and Chinese) with some blistering death metal licks.

> Taken off the album "Garden of the Titans: Live at Red Rocks Amphitheatre"

The lead singer is a university professor and, indeed, a Ph.D. supervisor.

It shows in the music.

Blistering ambient (mostly) instrumental metal guitar from India mixed with...

A whole lot of stuff. It's hard to nail down a genre because, metal guitars aside, there's so much other stuff in there (ranging from folk to electronica) that the overall soundscape is crazy complicated.

I'll open with one of my favourite pieces of metal I'd call progressive.

• Symphonic black folk metal? Check.
• Opens with a ... suona? Check.
• Continues with an erhu? Check.
• Starts with a relatively peaceful, if mournful, symphonic opening? Check.
• Lands with harsh screams and growls when the guitars and drums kick in? Check.
• Has pipa in the background during the loudest, heaviest parts? Check.
• Several time signature changes, key signature changes, tempo changes? Check.
• Includes a Dan vocalist at the climax of the piece? Check.

And this is one song. The album as a whole is even more diverse.