THE NEXT GENERATION
OU
Enigmatic and unique prog metal from the heart of China
WORDS: DAVE EVERLEY
Ou come with the HevyDevy stamp of approval!
PRESS/ZHANG XIN 張歆
China has famously given the world many things during its millennia-long history: paper, gunpowder, banknotes, a great big wall among them. But prog metal? Not so much.
Ou (pronounced ‘O’) are out to change that. The Beijing four-piece put a unique spin on this most tried-and-tested of genres. Their upcoming second album, II: Frailty, combines knotty heaviness and glitchy electronics with ethereal otherworldliness, the latter courtesy of singer Lynn Wu. It’s like Tool jamming with Aphex Twin while Björk sings in Mandarin Chinese over the top.