So; As recent as yesterday I found about this group called The HU; to keep things simple, it´s a mongolian musical group that plays kind-of metal (Multiple sources say it´s folk metal) with traditional mongolian instruments and throat-singing, it certenately sounds interesting, and they also seem to have become pretty popular, with as many as 30 million views in YouTube, considering there are about 9 million mongolian speakers worldwide this speaks volumes about these guys.

I wanted to ask here, because this guys have caught my attention; go and take a listen to them if you haven´t, once you do, I wanna ask you; Would you consider this metal like so many people have? If so... how could we possibly classify this as? Ethnic mongolian metal? Folk metal? etc.
I´m practically sure a lot of people here will say this isn´t metal at all, and I wouldn´t be surprised, it´s quite an excentric musical group, but I still want to bring this up, because at least to me they fit the bill of metal perfectly, although very unorthodoxly, well.

Not sure how I'd classify The HU. Frankly, it doesn't matter much to me. They make really cool music, play beautiful instruments, and entertain me thoroughly. That's enough for me.

The HU is kind of neat but not really metal. I don't know if they were blessed by The Almighty Algorithm or if they just have an unbelievably good PR department, but they definitely benefited from fluke viral fame. They don't really have any real riffs so they're more like some weird metal-adjacent oddity/novelty like Apocalyptica or something but I thought Yuve Yuve Yu was a fun song. They're more "useful" to the metal scene than really a part of it I'd say, because genuine Mongolian folk metal has been a very good subbier-than-subniche for at least a decade now and they're the first one to really break out despite (or maybe because) they're not really all that heavy or mean. So if nothing else they helped shine a spotlight on a great niche.

Though if this sparked your interest in the scene then I'd definitely recommend some of the progenitors that preceded them like Nine Treasures, Shangren, Ego Fall, and especially Tengger Cavalry. Just be wary if you pursue Tengger, because from 2010-2014 they were absolutely incredible and probably the last great folk metal band, but then Nature moved to America and started putting out a ton of shitty half-songs at an alarming rate and started rerecording/whitewashing all of the great shit he did in China. Ancient Call is one of my favorite albums of the last decade but Die on My Ride is one of the worst with very little contest. In fact, the last post Nature made to the official TC facebook page was one complaining about how The HU is so much more popular than Tengger is and how an NPR article about them didn't namedrop Tengger and said he was being erased from music history. That was like three days before they found his body. Sad story.

The Hu are really cool, but they're not, strictly speaking, metal. And 'folk rock' sounds vague and even kind of misleading. I'm not sure if it even matters, as long as the music is engaging. Looking forward to their full-length.

As for Nature from Tengger Cavalry, until now, I didn't know he was found dead. I'm so sorry to hear that, he was a talented musician and didn't deserve to die so young.

I wouldn't say they have much of a metal sound to me. I'm also not sure i'd call them overhyped or underappreciated. I'm not trying to say what they are doing is a gimmick because for all intents and purposes they sure seem genuine in their delivery. However I think the soaring views and popularity is the interest in the gimmick of most people haven't heard anything quite like them. So it creates intrigue. They are good enough to capture your attention but I also cant say that i'm a huge fan and would spend much time actively searching for or listening to them.

My guess is after the schtick wheres thin they will face into obscurity and only the select few will stick with them. I doubt they'll become innovators as such like say Slayer, Suffocation or Mayhem.

They're definitely not metal. Folk for sure. Like Mongolian folk music. Idk who labeled them as metal, but they are wrong.

The Hu doesnt really do anything new, other mongolian and tuvan bands have done this rock/metallic approach to their traditional music before. However they seem to specifically market themselves towards the European metal crowd.

The magazines that are hyping The Hu must have been living under a rock. There are numerous other bands such as Hanggai, Nine Treasures and Tengger Cavalry who have been playing this type of music for more than a decade. I would classify this type of music as folk rock (Hanggai and The Hu) or folk metal (Nine Treasures and Tengger Cavalry). I saw Hanggai live in concert in Ottawa about two months ago and it was absolutely incredible. I managed to get a signed record and concert poster.

yeah the reason why they get so much attention is clearly because they are specifically getting pushed.

Saw them live last month. They were fantastic, although one of the drummers seemed like he had trouble keeping time. It appears that there are about 4 official members and the rest are hired help. The crowd was mostly old people which I found kind of odd. (Like 60+ typical white folk) Also they played that same song they got famous for on youtube for the encore, so twice. Which I thought was kind of lame but all in all they are an interesting live experience. They have some riffs that feel really derivative of Sabbath and Zeppelin so maybe thats why the mainstream dumped them in with "metal"

Was the old crowd all people who were into rock 'n' roll music in their youth and went on to become managers at a car dealership and were expecting Mongolian Skynard or were they older professional class NPR listeners who were there to see some Mongolian art house folk ensemble?

For sure the NPR type who probably pre-gamed at a wine bar in uptown.

Apparently they're the band that does that intro song to Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order and... it's pretty fuckin' cool! That's all I've heard and I don't know that genre at all, but I'm interested in hearing more for sure.

Actually just saw this band. I had been unfamiliar with them previously and was told by a friend that they were doing something cool and unique. I was blown away by the show. It's a really beautiful and powerful performance.

That said, I definitely don't think they are metal in any form. They have some harsh vocals but I think that, when blending the harsh vocals with the throat singing, it doesn't come across as metal. Definitely fusing elements of rock and they seem like dudes who like metal and punk, but the music itself doesn't fall within metal.

That said, it was a really cool show so I highly recommend seeing them if you ever get the chance.

Sounds like Heilung with a sort of country vibe. Fucking weird. But...cool?