Chthonic is also known for their unique stage costumes, which originally included corpse paint similar to that used by many Scandinavian black metal bands, from which Chthonic drew their early inspiration. Starting in 1998 Chthonic incorporated some Taiwanese elements and characteristics into their stage attire, such as the "8 Generals of Hell" glyphs on Freddy Lim's forehead. Keyboardist CJ Kao uses a cloth inscribed with Chinese characters wrapped around his head, which in mythology is a spell to raise Chinese Vampires from the dead.