The following report is courtesy of Richard Harrington from The Washington Post

Not a lot of metal bands appear at both nightclubs and the National Press Club in Washington, but CHTHONIC will soon be doing just that here. And on September 13, the Taiwanese ensemble will hold a downtown news conference to discuss its UNlimited Taiwan campaign and its experience as the first Asian extreme metal act in the Ozzfest tour -- an appropriate showcase for a band called "the BLACK SABBATH of Asia."

According to lead singer and songwriter Freddy Lim, the September events are particularly important because they coincide with the September 18 opening of the annual session of the United Nations, which Taiwan will once again attempt to join, an effort blocked every year since 1993 by China, which asserts sovereignty over the island.

Chthonic - pronounced "THON-nic," it's Greek, meaning "of the underworld" - has recorded a single called 'UNlimited Taiwan' and made a short film for the song, protesting their homeland's isolation in the international community.

It's all part of an effort to drum up sympathy and support among younger fans who may not know that Taiwan has been self-ruled since Nationalist forces moved there in 1949 after losing a long-running civil war with communist forces.

It had a U.N. seat as the Republic of China until 1971, when China asserted sovereignty and threatened military action if Taiwan tried to secede. The United States has been trying to encourage a peaceful resolution ever since.

"The things that we can do are not too much," Lim admitted. "We didn't organize this tour for a political reason -- first of all, it's a musical tour -- but as citizens of Taiwan we had to express our political message in the same time when our country needs our support.

"We are just a heavy metal act and we have to fight for our own musical career, but at the same time we want to fight for our country."

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