Taiwan’s metal masters Chthonic have released a new live EP Megaportal2425, including five select songs from the band’s appearances at 2024 and 2025 Megaport Festivals.
There has been a consistent theme in Chthonic’s performances at Megaport Festival over the past two years – breaking the boundary between reality and illusion, and bringing onto stage the virtual. In 2024, technology was used to allow virtual characters to be presented in real time on the big screen, and in 2025, these characters appeared onstage in person – interacting with the virtual big screen characters.
Lead vocalist Freddy explains that the screen at these two concerts are a “tunnel of time and space”, “portals” in time-travel dramas. “The virtual time and space are connected to the real world through the portals. We see the virtual character through the screen, and the character sees us in the real world. When we performed ‘Endless Aeons’, the character travelled through and appeared in the real world,” he states.
Other than ‘Endless Aeons’, the interweaving of time and space appears throughout other songs included in this live EP. The overture “Megaportal Intro” superimposes different versions of the band’s smash single ‘Takao’, presenting a chaotic and thrilling atmosphere; ‘Quell the Souls in Sing Ling Temple’ is a battle across the world and the underworld; for ‘Defenders of Bú-Tik Palace–acoustic version’, Finn, a character who has appeared in several Chthonic music videos in the past decade, came to life onstage.
Chthonic will now turn their attention to a new album, with no future performance plans in the short term. For now, the band invite fans to enjoy the live EP.
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