College Professor Revealed as Frontman of Chinese Black Metal Band

Talk about a good moonlighting gig. Sure, everyone is dynamic in their own way with so many sides to them, but you wouldn’t necessarily expect a pretty mild-mannered profession to have such a metal-mannered alternative. Chinese black metal band Zuriaake has been paving the way for Chinese black metal basically forever at this point, but it’s always been somewhat of a mystery who was behind the project. In true black metal fashion, the members play mysteriously, masked and costumed in bamboo hats, veils, and straw rain capes. It was recently revealed who fronts the band, and it isn’t who anyone would’ve expected. He’s a doctoral supervisor and a smart as fuck college professor.

Liu Yao, 41, teaches at the School of Materials Science and Engineering at Shandong University in eastern China, with a focus on metamaterials and electromagnetic functional materials. Some really smart people shit. He’s published more than 80 scientific journal papers and has done tons of other proud academic feats during his tenure, adding to the somewhat shocking dichotomy.

Zuriaake formed in the Shandong province when Liu was an undergrad in the late 90s. He slowly released material with the band throughout his studies, putting the band, which also features members with the names Bloodfire, Bloodsea, and Deadsphere, on hiatus from 2008 and 2012 while Liu was getting his doctoral degree at the Technical University Berlin in Germany.

The band’s lyrics are based on traditional Chinese poems, using traditional instruments like the xun, temple blocks, and handbells. It’s brooding and moody and heavy as shit and honestly makes me wish I had a cooler alter ego to my pretty tame existence. Zuriaake’s music is fucking tight and shows just how much some people can really surprise you. Listen to some of their older stuff on their Bandcamp. Hopefully, we’ll be getting some new stuff soon.