Under the moniker of Chinese Cobra, Li Nan (李难) has orchestrated one of the craziest extreme music projects. Originally an industrial-noise act called Masturbation (恣慰) from Beijing, Voodoo Kungfu (零壹) has uniquely fused Asian folk music with dark, avant-garde metal for the past couple decades. I actually recall catching the band perform in Hollywood, joined on stage by globally renowned cellist Tina Guo, back in 2017.
While Voodoo Kungfu has yet to have their well-deserved ‘big break’ in the international metal community, they’ve nonetheless accomplished some impressive feats such as theme song credits for a Netflix original film The Monkey King as well as their own 20-minute film titled Blackened Lovecraftian Metal, featuring chaotic singles “GuangXi 1968, Pt. 2” and “Mother Suspiriorum.” There’s throat-singing, snakeplay, fine cooking, and a heavily tattooed, shirtless Nan Li covered in blood. The whole experience is jarring and a bit graphic, yet scratches that acid trip-performance art-snuff film aesthetic itch.
Considering the band has featured instrumentation like the morin khuur, one would draw comparisons to The Hu, however, Voodoo Kungfu is far more unorthodox. Their palette is more aligned with modern Mayhem and Author & Punisher, particularly when exploring the new 4-track release titled Unit 731 (部队). Icy, blackened riffs along with a menagerie of howling and chant vocals color the atmosphere on the frantic opener “Monastery Fete 修道院祭”.
The Shakuhachi flute (performed by Yonnie Dror) starts the title track, an immensely experimental piece of music – King Diamond shrieks combat Sighesque weird metal. “The Rite of Celestial Burial 天葬之祭” is equally boundary-pushing, on par with Igorrr. Closer “Monastery Rave 修道院舞” is as wild as the song title sounds – midnight synths in harmony with demonic screams, akin to Antania.
While Nan Li is the sole member of Voodoo Kungfu, the full package of this project is certainly a collaborative effort, noting that Unit 731 includes arrangements by João Miguel, orchestration by Carlo Maria Dini and Joe Sanders as well as guest vocalists Megi Angelova, Anastasia Malliaras, and Úyanga Bold.
I really need this project to blow up, it is so unbelievably underrated; please go look into Voodoo Kungfu.