Iron Bamboo - The Iron Bamboo (Released on 2004)
Rating:
*****5
I first came across their music through their music video "Wei Le Xiong Di" (For My Brothers) on TV "Entertainment News". And it surprised me as it's hard to come by any hard core Taiwan hip-hop bands. Vince raps in a hard core voice so well. Besides English, he raps in French too. And this combination is so well utilized that u can only praise the guys for making a refreshing contribution in the Taiwan hard-core hip hop scene. The group has a well- diversified of rapping style in different languages such as French, Mandarin and English. With Vince and Jason writing most of the songs and famous lyricist Fang Wen Shan composing 3 of them. Major part of production and arranging was done by Michael and Scottie.
Worth mentioning too, is the intro song "He Ping She Jie" (Peaceful World) - which has a melodic guitar riff throughout the song. The song promotes anti- war messages. The lyrics goes like this: "And since the day of our birth. Our humble existence on earth. For some, life is a blessing. For some, it's worse than curse. But everywhere is war. Children growing in trauma. Phobias drive us into conflicts. We are fighting each other for bullshit. No one really gets along. We are all enemies and foes. We take away each other's freedom. For the most selfish reasons. Somehow we are all killers. We kill as we're breathing. Father, please forgive us before we all hurt one another. When I open my eyes, I see no peace and no love. I see people die and cry. More tears, more sweat, more blood. Living under constant danger. It doesn't matter where u are. Somehow, someone will always be more than ready to start a war. Some fight for more power. Some fight for equality. Killing each other for money, resources and territories. I've seen barrel of guns. And they took away my friends. Yesterday was history. Tomorrow is mystery."
Accompanied with the piano tunes, they also dish out a fabulous song in Track 3. "Feng Bo" (Storm). You can hear Vince rap in French in this track. Another of my favourite is - Track 6, "Ni Sha Bu Liao Wo" (U Can't Kill Me). I can't stop moving every inch of body listening to the song.
If u love rock rap, u would certainly love Track 8 - "Xin Mo"(Evil in the Heart). The song starts off in a slow mood, but midway, it bursts into flames and began to bombard u with a variety of loud rock tunes, coupled with rapping.
Another song in this album which always received radio airwaves play is song no 9. "Neng Bu Neng" (Is It Possible?), which features Wendy Wen (whom I believe has the sexiest female voice in Taiwan music industry).
For those who like R&B ballads, maybe u can check out track 10. "Ge Li" (Isolation) which is nice too. Kinda of reminds me of Jay Chou.
Verdict : It is an album with a diversity of music genres like hip-hop, rock, R&B, pop and even gospel (remember track no 4. "Xing Yang" (Faith).
This concludes my review. Next, is how many stars does this album entitle. All I could say is this album is certainly a good buy for those who love hip hop. LMF fans should check this out too.
Iron Bambo Biography
Members: Michael Lim, Vince Chang, Jason Wang and Scottie Chen.
2001- 2003 @ Lymwk's Corner
® http://www.geocities.com/lymwk
Supported by the House of 1771 Production