Gnaw Their Tongues: Abyss of Longing Throats

One of our readers, Albert B., regularly sends me recommendations. Most of them are bands that are intense and powerful and extreme. I like many of the recommendations—and I greatly appreciate them all. One of the bands that came up in our exchanges was Gnaw Their Tongues. I hadn't heard anything by them before (though with the output of releases, how could I have missed them?). When I saw this album was coming out, I was curious and began listening, thinking, and wondering. The music is a blend of industrial, black metal, ambient, and crazy. Other descriptions could include nightmarish, chaotic, disturbing, and unsettling. This isn't music that wants to comfort, but it also doesn't seem bent on beating an audience down. Instead, it plays to a different idiom, one that twists and turns with surprise and noise and strangeness. It also frustrates expectations by taking listeners down paths that don't lead anywhere familiar or easy. I read, elsewhere, that this album is the most accessible of all this band's releases. I'm not sure what that means—this is certainly not the kind of mass art one hears on the radio. It even defies the expectations of some underground metal bands.

So did I like it? I think that's the wrong question, though a fair one. I didn't like it, but I did willingly listen to it, both actively and passively, hoping to discover different things each time. In the end, it fascinated me and distressed me. I'd recommend it to listeners who know what they are getting when they put this on. For those unfamiliar, I'd suggest giving a shot, but with the caution that it doesn't grow on you so much as it finds its own way to haunt you. I read that Gnaw Their Tongues is going to play some live shows, something they typically do not do. I'd be very interested to hear about their shows—and how audiences respond. If you're looking to challenge your ears, this is a good place to start.

Track Listing:
1. Lick the Poison from the Cave Walls
2. Through Flesh
3. Abyss of Longing Throats
4. From the Black Mouth of Spite
5. The Holy Body
6. And They Will Be Cast Out Into Utter Darkness
7. Up Into the Heavens Down into the Circles of...

Added: October 1st 2015
Reviewer: Carl Sederholm
Score:
Related Link: band website
Hits: 1668
Language: english

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