Retro-eighties Euro-synthpop lifestyle got you down? Skinny tie suddenly feels like an albatross around your neck? Tired of listening to Gary Numan’s “Cars” in cars? Howard Jones beginning to sound as dull as a blizzard-forced stay at an Erie, Pennsylvania, Howard Johnson? Maybe it’s time to move on to something new and completely different, by which I mean the Mongolian folk metal band The Hu!
Because what could be cooler than a bunch of bona fide Mongolians combining throat singing and traditional Mongolian instruments like the morin khuur (horsehead fiddle), tumur khuur (Jew’s harp), baigali tovshuur (lute), and tsuur (end-blown flute) with electric guitars and drums to produce a sound that will cause you to throw that cheap synthesizer (you were never going to form that Soft Cell tribute band, Soft Sell, and you know it) and gleefully blow the speakers Land of the Eternal Blue Sky style!
How to describe the music of the Hu (which is pronounced “who” and means “human beings”), who joined forces at the Mongolian State Music and Dance Conservatory and decided to try their hand at heavy metal, which, not too long before, had actually been banned in the world’s most sparsely populated sovereign state?
Well, imagine the portentous guitar crunch of Metallica (sans the frilly playing) combined with in-your-face vocals that incorporate old Mongolian war cries and poetry in the Mongolian language, although you’d be excused for sometimes thinking they’re singing in Finnish. Then throw in some cool morin Khuur to give them this almost Kansas feel. And they have a catchy pop edge too, which is in full display on “Triangle.”
This isn’t Norwegian Death Metal or Cradle of Filth or Anthrax, folks. It’s simply not that noisy or aggressive, which isn’t to say the Hu are softies. They can sound pretty damn scary when they want, especially when they’re opening their mouths. Just check out “Sell the World” or “Black Thunder.”
Let me backtrack for a moment because I forgot to tell you that you can find “Triangle” and “Sell the World” and “Black Thunder” on 2022’s aptly titled Rumble of Thunder, which followed the band’s 2019 debut The Gereg.
And I forgot to tell you the band has won such acclaim internationally that the warlords (I’m joking) who rule Mongolia awarded them the Order of Genghis Khan, the country’s highest award, which legally allows them to form a horde! Oh, and if you go to their YouTube channel, you can find a series of simply wonderful cooking videos titled “Hu’s in the Kitchen” that they made while trapped in an Airbnb near Sydney, Australia, during the Covid lockdown.
Check out Episode #14, and before you know it, you’ll be serving up a scrumptious homemade huushuur for eight, because that’s how many guys there were in that Airbnb outside Sydney. Cooking hint: Don’t skimp on the onion and garlic!
Rumble of Thunder boasts twelve tracks, all winners, with totally cool titles like “This Is Mongol” and “Upright Destined Mongol” and “TATAR Warrior,” played in a variety of styles that demonstrate The Hu have range and aren’t about to be pinned down to playing the same damn song twelve different ways. Sure, they go full metal jacket on their 2020 cover of Metallica’s “Sad but True,” and they go full metal jacket on Rumble of Thunder as well, but if you’re expecting to bang your head until the little bones in your ears scream through Rumble of Thunder you’ll be disappointed. On the other hand, if you’re not a huge Metallica fan, and I’m anything but, you’ll be as happy as a Mongol in huushuur.
Opener “This Is Mongol” boasts a cool guitar riff and some AC/DC chanting and while it’s hardly Metallica heavy, it’s definitely metal but with a definite twist in the form of that morin khuur and the really deep vocals, which if they’d really upped the volume of the guitars and drums could be mistaken for the kinds of cookie monster vocals you get in death metal. “Yut Hövende” is heavier and slower and features lots of chanting and guttural vocals, and the morin khuur wailing over the big bad metal guitars. It’s all very Gothic, and if you’re like me, that morin khuur will change your life. Nobody sounds like this, nobody.
“Triangle” opens with some funky percussion, then you get this cool, laid back guitar riff backed by the tumur khuur before a guy comes in throat singing really fast. Then in come the electric guitars and some other guys join the first guy, and what you have is Mongolian folk power pop, and it’s a miracle, is what it is. And when the morin khuur does a solo turn, you’ll go all soft and gooey in wonderment. It’s so simple (the melody never changes, no deviations) and powerful, you’ll want to jump up and down and sing along, although there’s no reproducing most of the sounds that come out of these guys’ mouths, because they’re singing with their THROATS!
“Teach Me” is every bit as catchy, all vocals and one straight ahead riff that I wouldn’t call metal but I would call cool as shit. You get some exhilarating voices offering up what sounds like an otherworldly football chant and lots of speedy morin khuur and if this one doesn’t make you happy (it’s a happy song) you need to take your personality into the garage for a happiness adjustment.
“Upright Destined Mongol” is almost bluesy but definitely metallic, and you get lots of the Mongolian equivalent of “Oi! Oi! Oi!” and urgent group vocals, and that morin khuur once again kicks up a storm and the song seems to go on forever but you won’t mind because it’s amazing how many vocal sounds these Mongols are capable of making—sometimes they sound like they’re going to slit your throat and other times they sound like they’re providing backing vocals for the greatest Def Leppard song you’ve never heard.
“Sell the World” is another bluesy number complete with traditional folk instruments and a lead vocalist who appears to be gargling gravel or is the ghost of Bon Scott come to lead you to Hell, and the group vocals are equally menacing, and seem to be chanting some kind of incantation that bodes ill for your immortal soul. I wish I knew what they were singing, but frankly, I’m glad I don’t, because that lead singer is sanguinity personified.
And he sounds nine times scarier on the slow metal terror grind that is “Black Thunder. ” The first time I heard it, I crawled under my bed because a whole bunch of them came in singing all spooky. Then in comes the morin khuur with the Mongolian Jew’s harp way off in the distance. All of this leads up to sudden acceleration that lets you know these guys mean it—they’re as metal as a foundry.
“Mother Nature” is appropriately bucolic; you get an acoustic guitar strumming a Mongolian sunny day (it’s always sunny in Mongolia) somewhere out in the middle of the Gobi desert without a Mongolian beef restaurant in sight, the tumur khuur adds to the mood, and the vocals are a peaceful and easy feeling as the sound builds and it’s all quite lovely, you’ll want to sit down to watch the Mongolian sunset, especially when the morin khuur launches into a solo that is so beautiful it aches. A perfect song.
“Bii Biyelgee” is oversized Mongol folk with an irresistible melody and lots of sweep and no metal content, just lots of morin khuur and tumur khuur and the usual big vocal hubbub, although the electric guitar and drums are in there too to let you know these guys have been listening to their rock and roll records. Love the way it speeds up at the end.
“Segee” is rock and roll for sure, with a big old electric guitar and the drums pounding away and the vocalists sounding pissed, love the way they sing what sounds like “ashaw ashaw ashaw” like they’re auditioning for ZZ Top before the morin khuur butts in a’sawing away. And there’s this big vocal hush in the middle with a guy kinda ululating on top before the morin khuur plays a solo so fucking cool the violin guy in Kansas would quit forever.
“Shiti Huti” is big operatic rock, all pounding power chords and what sounds like a thousand guys singing before everything stops and a guy does some truly eerie throat singing while the electric guitar and morin khuur play this slow and portentous Metallica-school riff. Suffice it to say this one packs a big punch.
“Tatar Warrior” opens with galloping horses and lots of guttural throat noises that will make you think werewolves are in the house, then in comes this big metallic guitar riff over which the singers bare their throats, only you’re the one who’s about to get bitten. I mean, these vocals are scary, and they own the song until the morin khuur comes in and goes psychedelic on you. You have never heard music like this, it will remind you of other bands and other music (especially GERMAN metal for some reason) but man is it badass. The horses at the end definitely sound spooked.
Closer “Black Thunder” is preceded by wind and thunder, and then that Mongolian Jew’s harp comes in, boinging a bit, then speeding up, and then in comes the morin khuur and the eeriest moaning you’ve ever heard. It’s all very mournful; this is a Mongolian black angel’s death song, and you’re not in Kansas anymore, bucko. Then this really mean electric guitar riff comes in and the vocalists do their menacing thing, and once again you’re thinking no good can come of this, especially when they begin to sing the Mongolian equivalent of “The Song of the Volga Boatmen.” Meanwhile, the drums pound and the morin khuur wails, but it’s the vocalists who get to you, The Hu are all about the vocals, and when the whole thing kicks into overdrive it’s really cathartic, especially the way the morin khuur rides atop the guitar riff and the drums like the wind of the wing of madness.
Rumble of Thunder is an amazing album by an astounding band that puts the folk in the metal and vice versa in a totally organic and perfectly textured way. Their sound is effortless, assured, absolutely realized, and a joy to listen to. But none of it would mean much if they didn’t write great songs, one after the other, not a single misstep. The Hu are not a novelty act. That’s an important thing to say and bears repeating. The Hu are not a novelty act.
The Hu are a great metal band, and they’re coming to your town, and you’d better be there because they’re big on praising Genghis Khan (they think he’s misunderstood and they have the facts to back it up), and you don’t want them to have to come looking for you under your bed. They could take over your kitchen and cook up a meal you wouldn’t believe.
And they’d probably trash that synthesizer.
GRADED ON A CURVE:
A
