When lockdown hit, The Hu were on tour in Australia. Unable to return home after Mongolia closed its borders, they did what every self-respecting horde of Mongol warriors would do, and started an online cookery show, to further spread Mongolian culture to the world.
That mission continues on Rumble Of Thunder. The already traditional chants of ‘Hu! Hu! Hu!’ crop up early in opener This Is Mongol, as if to position the album for the almost unfathomably epic nature of what’s to follow, and some of the vocals on YUT Hovende sound like they were recorded on an actual battlefield during combat.
Triangle is the opposite, gleefully carefree, as if 1979-era Smashing Pumpkins had taken a summer sabbatical in Ulaanbaatar, while Teach Me is similarly insouciant, featuring more chants of ‘Hu!’ and a singalong part that could almost have been lifted from the Sham 69 playbook.
The churning violins and hypnotic chants of the nine-minute Black Thunder sound like the soundtrack to the bloodiest conquest ever undertaken, and by its climax you’ll regret not owning a horse. Wonderful.
