Founded in Jinzhou, China in August 2010 as a Speed/Thrash metal band by guitarist Zhenbo Gao. Punisher has established their status of one of most influential bands withing the world of the Chinese Metalheads . With their ingenious music arrangement and superb guitar skills, Punisher has gained unanimous recognition as one unique technical thrash band, They so far have released 2 EPs, 1 split, and 1 full-length album.
They has made it’s name by boldly embedding the criticism of politics and humanity in the roots of heavy metal music.Though recently all their music was deleted off Chinese social media and streaming websites due to their political stance and since then have been reaching out for ways to get their music back out to the public and recently got accepted by Spotify to stream their music there.
They have been invited to headline or participate major music festivals in the country, including Thrash China Festival (the biggest annual thrash metal festival in China), 330 Metal Music Festival (the best known in-door metal music festival in China), and Midi Music Festival (the largest open air rock festival in China), and their full-length studio album Battle of Grace has quickly become a sales phenomenon upon its release, receiving appreciation from metal societies both within China and abroad.
The band has performed overseas at Heavy Agger Metal Fest in Agger, Denmark (2019) in line with Artillery, Iron Angel, Turbocharged and other extraordinary European metal bands, and at Metal Destruction Festival in Vientiane, Laos with a lineup of well-received Asian metal bands.
Discography:
Public Servant (Demo, 2010)
Harmonik Hell (EP, 2011)
Kurong Promo (Compilation, 2014)
Puncture Whiplash (Split with Nunslaughter, 2015)
Battle of Grace (Full-length studio album, 2016)
Lost in the Maze of Nightmare (EP, 2017)
Review Lost in the Maze of Nightmare
Lost in the Maze of Nightmare (EP, 2017)
- Minions of the Beast (人模狗样)
- Your Suffering (遭罪)
- The Dark (夜)
- The Fall (沦陷)
- All Previous Me
Order (digital album) – Stream
Rating: 4/5
This album comprises of only 5 songs, in true trash metal style, starting with Minions of the Beast, this song is true with it’s speed and trash style though it reminds me a lot of sound of the 80’s, maybe Ozzy Osbourne? maybe another more punk style band I used to listen to but it’s giving me some good vibes combined with listening to the riffs of the song along with the high pitched fast lyrics. I think this would be perfect when you’re hitting the mosh pit and it really sets the mood of the album. The rest of the album is just as good as the first song, it’s true that Punisher is unique in their abilities as each song is different and displays their true skill well. From The Dark the songs get a bit more of a doom metal feeling to me, The Fall bringing the two genres together again and All Previous Me being more like a ballad, incorporating acoustic instuments and different singers.
I, myself, am not a fan of Trash metal but I’ve been too enough shows to know that this band would keep me right there to watch them and I truly hope we can hear more of them in near to no time.
Follow China’s Agenda or get shut down
Due to Metal music’s lyrics often criticizing politics and it’s ‘strange’ way of behaving at concerts, dark clothing and long hair are a risk to society, according to the Chinese authorities. In the last years they have been pushing their own agenda for how a true Chinese citizen should act and the odd ones out are the ones criticized for not following said agenda. 330 Metal Music Festival had their doors closed during their first two songs back in 2015 and a lot of artists and art projects had been shut down minutes before it’s start due to the regulations of the politics, even to the extend of risking jail time.
Censorship in China is intense, we all know about the Great Chinese Firewall that we try to get through using VPN and other ways but it doesn’t work so well when you try to make your livelihood out of your passion for music. ( or love for that matter ). We just hope that bands like this one can continue making the music we love and that the western crowd finds them and can help them more with their status of most influential artist in China.
Band Website:
https://www.metal-archives.com/bands/Punisher/3540325934
https://punisherband.bandcamp.com/
https://www.facebook.com/Punisherband/
https://artist.douban.com/m/Punisher/
https://weibo.com/u/3097550015
Check video clips from some of their shows at bilibili
Some of their music videos could be streamed at this youtube channel
Thank you Punisher for your time and effort to speak to us.
