''Thorn'' (

Chinese Chinese can refer to: * Something related to China * Chinese people, people of Chinese nationality, citizenship, and/or ethnicity **''Zhonghua minzu'', the supra-ethnic concept of the Chinese nation ** List of ethnic groups in China, people of ...

: 芒刺;

pinyin Hanyu Pinyin (), often shortened to just pinyin, is the official romanization system for Standard Mandarin Chinese in China, and to some extent, in Singapore and Malaysia. It is often used to teach Mandarin, normally written in Chinese for ...

: ''Mángcì'') is the fourth studio album by seminal

progressive metal Progressive metal (sometimes shortened to prog metal) is a broad :Fusion music genres, fusion music genre melding heavy metal music, heavy metal and progressive rock, combining the loud "aggression" and amplified electric guitar, guitar-driven s ...

band

Tang Dynasty The Tang dynasty (, ; zh, t= ), or Tang Empire, was an Dynasties in Chinese history, imperial dynasty of China that ruled from 618 to 907 AD, with an Zhou dynasty (690–705), interregnum between 690 and 705. It was preceded by the Sui dyn ...

, released on November 8, 2013.

Composition, themes, and recording

The album title comes from a

Book of Han The ''Book of Han'' or ''History of the Former Han'' (Qián Hàn Shū,《前汉书》) is a history of China finished in 111AD, covering the Western, or Former Han dynasty from the first emperor in 206 BCE to the fall of Wang Mang in 23 CE. ...

proverb "Thorn on one's back" (), referring to a constant feeling of anxiety or unease. The band believed this idiom reflected both their own feelings during the album's creation, as well as the situation of every Chinese person alive in the modern world. The album's unifying concepts were

world peace World peace, or peace on Earth, is the concept of an ideal state of peace within and among all people and nations on Planet Earth. Different cultures, religions, philosophies, and organizations have varying concepts on how such a state would ...

and

environmental preservation Environmentalism or environmental rights is a broad philosophy, ideology, and social movement regarding concerns for environmental protection and improvement of the health of the environment, particularly as the measure for this health se ...

; many of the song titles contain references to animals or plants. ''Thorn'' took almost three years to record, with frontman

Ding Wu Ding Wu () (born December 30, 1962) is a Chinese musician, best known as the lead vocalist and rhythm guitarist of the seminal progressive metal band Tang Dynasty. His distinct, wailing falsetto draws influences from Beijing Opera. Early life ...

overseeing every aspect of recording and production. Ding explained the band's decision to produce the album independently, saying "today's recording industry as a whole is not thriving. Traditional recording practices are completely obsolete, and record labels do not accommodate the artist anymore ..e have been considering going independent since completing ''

Romantic Knight ''Romantic Knight'' (), alternatively translated as ''Knight of Romantic'', is the third album by Chinese heavy metal band Tang Dynasty, released June 13, 2008 on Jingwen Records. It is the only Tang Dynasty album to feature a five-piece lineup. ...

''. By self-producing this album we have cut out the middleman entirely, which results in a product closer to our artistic vision." He revealed that each member had installed home studios from which they could record, share, and edit musical ideas. Award-winning engineer Li Jun was hired to mix the album. The album was handed over to Sony Music Japan for mastering, and was released on patented Memory-Tech HQCD to ensure top quality. ''Thorn'' is a radical departure from the band's folk-influenced sound, featuring drop-tuned guitars, unconventional

song structure Song structure is the arrangement of a song, and is a part of the songwriting process. It is typically sectional, which uses repeating forms in songs. Common forms include bar form, 32-bar form, verse–chorus form, ternary form, strophic form, and ...

s, and the incorporation of

electronic music Electronic music is a genre of music that employs electronic musical instruments, digital instruments, or circuitry-based music technology in its creation. It includes both music made using electronic and electromechanical means ( electroac ...

and

field recording Field recording is the term used for an audio recording produced outside a recording studio, and the term applies to recordings of both natural and human-produced sounds. It also applies to sound recordings like electromagnetic fields or vibra ...

s. Two songs, "Ups and Downs" and "Elk Tears", which had been previously released on a 2010 EP entitled ''Ups and Downs'' sold exclusively at concerts, were rerecorded for the album. The artwork was created by Song Xiaohui, who had previously designed the artwork for the band's second album, '' Epic''.

Release

''Thorn'' was distributed by

Guangzhou Guangzhou (, ; ; or ; ), also known as Canton () and alternatively romanized as Kwongchow or Kwangchow, is the capital and largest city of Guangdong province in southern China. Located on the Pearl River about north-northwest of Hong Kon ...

-based labe
Starsing Records
Music videos for the title track and "Zebra Crossing" were released online in September 2013. The album was made available to preorder on October 21, 2013 (preorder editions included a poster and a miner's lamp). The album was released in

Hong Kong Hong Kong ( (US) or (UK); , ), officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China ( abbr. Hong Kong SAR or HKSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China on the eastern Pearl River Delt ...

Taiwan Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia, at the junction of the East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, with the People's Republic of China (PRC) to the northwest, Japan to the nort ...

, and

Malaysia Malaysia ( ; ) is a country in Southeast Asia. The federation, federal constitutional monarchy consists of States and federal territories of Malaysia, thirteen states and three federal territories, separated by the South China Sea into two r ...

a day in advance. On the night of the album's

mainland Mainland is defined as "relating to or forming the main part of a country or continent, not including the islands around it egardless of status under territorial jurisdiction by an entity" The term is often politically, economically and/or dem ...

release, Tang Dynasty played a concert - dubbed the "Sun/Thorn Concert" () - at the Exhibition Theater in

Beijing } Beijing ( ; ; ), alternatively romanized as Peking ( ), is the capital of the People's Republic of China. It is the center of power and development of the country. Beijing is the world's most populous national capital city, with over 21 ...

, featuring

punk Punk or punks may refer to: Genres, subculture, and related aspects * Punk rock, a music genre originating in the 1970s associated with various subgenres * Punk subculture, a subculture associated with punk rock, or aspects of the subculture s ...

band Brain Failure and '' Chinese Idol'' runner-up Yang Jima as guests. In early 2014 the group embarked on a short tour of

Oceania Oceania (, , ) is a region, geographical region that includes Australasia, Melanesia, Micronesia, and Polynesia. Spanning the Eastern Hemisphere, Eastern and Western Hemisphere, Western hemispheres, Oceania is estimated to have a land area of ...

, playing concerts in

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

and

Fiji Fiji ( , ,; fj, Viti, ; Fiji Hindi: फ़िजी, ''Fijī''), officially the Republic of Fiji, is an island country in Melanesia, part of Oceania in the South Pacific Ocean. It lies about north-northeast of New Zealand. Fiji consists ...

, marking the first time it had played outside of China in nearly twenty years. Later that year, Tang Dynasty toured

Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent, after Asia in both cases. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of Earth's total surface area ...

and

Asia Asia (, ) is one of the world's most notable geographical regions, which is either considered a continent in its own right or a subcontinent of Eurasia, which shares the continental landmass of Afro-Eurasia with Africa. Asia covers an area ...

. On September 15, 2015, the album was reissued on

vinyl Vinyl may refer to: Chemistry * Polyvinyl chloride (PVC), a particular vinyl polymer * Vinyl cation, a type of carbocation * Vinyl group, a broad class of organic molecules in chemistry * Vinyl polymer, a group of polymers derived from vinyl m ...

, with preorders made available five days before.

Tracklisting

Personnel

Tang Dynasty

lead vocals The lead vocalist in popular music is typically the member of a group or band whose voice is the most prominent melody in a performance where multiple voices may be heard. The lead singer sets their voice against the accompaniment parts of t ...

;

guitar The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that typically has six strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing selected stri ...

; additional instruments * Chen Lei - guitar * Gu Zhong - bass * Zhao Nian -

drums A drum kit (also called a drum set, trap set, or simply drums) is a collection of drums, cymbals, and other Percussion instrument, auxiliary percussion instruments set up to be played by one person. The player (drummer) typically holds a pair o ...

Production

* Ding Wu -

production Production may refer to: Economics and business * Production (economics) * Production, the act of manufacturing goods * Production, in the outline of industrial organization, the act of making products (goods and services) * Production as a stati ...

* Li Jun - mixing * Sony Music Japan - mastering * Song Xiaohui -

album artwork An album cover (also referred to as album art) is the front packaging art of a commercially released studio album or other audio recordings. The term can refer to either the printed paperboard covers typically used to package sets of and 78-rpm ...

References

{{Authority control Tang Dynasty (band) albums 2013 albums