The Midweekly is our column from Mike Jeffers; lead singer of Chicago punk stalwarts SCRAM, music junkie and all around righteous dude.
Never ceases to amaze and delight how far hard rock can reach its corruptible influence. Blown across the Gobi desert, and echoed over the Mongolian steppe comes The HU, a folk metal band like no other. Rumble of Thunder is their second, and latest release, and every minute of it lives up to that title. Modern rock styles blend with retro, as in “a few centuries old” retro. The riffs and percussion are heavy, the vocals are guttural and booming, but most of the songs stay in more uplifting keys. But, the real stars of this production are the traditional Mongolian instruments, and the throat singing. It’s truly awesome, and with lyrics taken from war cries and poems it just adds another epic level to the whole thing. American stoner and doom metal bands have been trying to conjure images of horseback warriors and falconers for years, but here comes the real thing.