Taipei Metal

Bloodred Fullmoon - Winter Solstice

Taipei-based multi-instrumentalist and all around virtuoso Ray Heberer released a five-song EP entitled Winter Solstice through his Bloodred Fullmoon project in late September. This offering is currently available for free download via Ray’s Bandcamp page. Ray, who is all of 16 years old, is one of those rare people, regardless of a age, of such uncommon talent that actually has the unmitigated drive to match. He currently has at least five bands on the go, and he handles the entirety of the writing and arrangements for all of them. If this is where he is at 16, just imagine where he’ll be at 20, 25, 30, if he chooses to continue with his music. And why wouldn’t he?

The only other parallels in terms of early success and execution that come to mind in extreme metal are Matt Harvey, who started Exhumed when he was also 15, and Polish death metal force Decapitated, which was begun when the members were also just into their mid-teens. The only difference is that, while those musicians were focused on a single act, Ray is already wearing multiple hats in his compositions, and working on several releases simultaneously. One of his bands, his true solo project, Reclusive Forest Council, has even been signed to Australian label Clean State Records. For a complete rundown of all his musical coming and goings, check out Ray’s Facebook page.