THE MUSIC scene in Taiwan is much more diverse than in Hong Kong. This is because of the island's pub culture, where talented musicians perform their own music in pubs, and most of them later get discovered by record companies.
Rock band Shin's frontman Shin is one of them. After being signed to Avex, he got his musician friends together and formed the band.
While many local metal bands find English lyrics more compatible with their music, Shin don't, and they have done a great job of singing metal in their native Mandarin.
No Limits is the band's second release, following their self-titled debut of last year. It is not a particularly innovative album, but because of the mixed nationalities of the band, and the New York-based production crew, their sound blends hard rock with traditional Chinese pop on the track Pandora's Box.
The Chinese rock ballad The Departure Song leads with the er-hu, a traditional Chinese two-string violin with a unique melancholic sound. Singer Shin shines in Surprises by manipulating his voice for this metal track.
Shin's No Limits might not be a good buy for hardcore rock music fans, but for the Chinese-speaking community, which is so used to Canto-pop, No Limits is a good introduction to the world of rock'n'roll.
