Interview with Gnaw Their Tongues

I can’t even begin to say how fucking cool being able to interview the harsh death industrial mastermind of Gnaw Their Tongues, it’s like everything he creates is golden…well actually more black and crimson. Gnaw Their Tongues is a massive aural slaughterday to the senses and pure adrenalizing mindfucks galore that really extends the boundaries broken and re-established by In Slaughter Natives. This guy is a maniacal genius and chances are that if your reading this, you’re already aware of the depravity and craftsmanship that comes with the GTT title, and a really cool guy. I'll be getting the review up for the latest release this week, but until then definitely score a copy of this bastard and unleash pure apocalyptic hell upon your ears.

DOTDR: How did Gnaw Their Tongues get started?

GTT: Been making music for over twenty years now. I played in death/doom/black metal bands, but I also did electronic music. In the late nineties I started building my own studio and recorded lots of music. In 2005/2006 I decided to throw some of the music on the internet. That's how the whole GTT thing started (and DE MAGIA VETERUM).

DOTDR: You create some of the most brilliant, chaotic, and insane sounds imaginable in your releases and coming from me that’s saying lot (and also a huge compliment), there’s nothing else exactly like GTT, it’s fucking great!!!!! In terms of your view of GTT, what do you strive to create on GTT releases? What inspires or influences what you create?

GTT: I'm inspired mostly by everyday horrors and inner hatred/dissonance. With every GTT release I strive for something special. I strive for making the most fucked up sonic killing spree.

DOTDR: That’s fucking awesome, and it shows in your releases!!!!! I know that L’Arivee de la Terne Mort Triomphante hasn’t been out very long, but with a high profile project like GTT there must have already been some responses to it, so how have people reacted to it so far?

GTT: Until now I read a few positive ones and one negative one… my music is not for everyone. The reviews seem to think this is my most orchestral sounding work and I think they are right.

DOTDR: I’d probably say so too, although they all have a heavy dark symphonic sound to them. I always like to ask the artist, what would your ideal reaction to this release by the listener be? Honestly, it made me stop whatever the hell I was doing and pay attention to it, it’s unbelievably captivating and intense.

GTT: Yes, that's pretty much what I aim for. Having people notice it. Sounding original and good. I’d rather have people react to my music (in a positive or negative way) than having no reaction at all.

DOTDR: It’s absolutely impossible to miss, it’s the sort of thing that you put on and people stop and go: “whoa…” or “What the Fuck is that?”, most of my listening tastes yields the WTF one for sure. Your sound is hard to describe, which is one of the reasons for its brilliance and success, but there’s a definite similarity on this release to chaotic neo-classical/symphonic artists like In Slaughter Natives. Do intentionally you set out to create something new and unique with each release? I ask because each one is quite distinct, really involved, and really impressive.

GTT: I try not to repeat myself and I try to have each release sounding different. The classical influences have always been there as I'm a great fan of modern/avant-garde classical music and horror soundtracks.

DOTDR: so with the success of GTT and your obvious level of skill, do you plan on keeping GTT going for a few years?

GTT: I did so much music these couple of years, that it's getting harder to come up with completely new things. I'll see what happens. I think GTT music has to come natural to me. It's never a good idea to force myself doing music. If I feel like it, or if I'm feeling inspired I record music. I at least got another full length planned, with some abstract ideas in my head. Will have to see how that one will turn out. I made a decision to reduce the amount of releases the next year.

DOTDR: You could always create something new under a new name and take a direction too, regardless of what happens with GTT, there’ll always be that massive crater left form the impact you made on the extreme side of music. With that said is there anything that you’d like to say in closing?

GTT: Thank you.

GTT contact, info, audio samples and purchasing:
http://www.myspace.com/gnawtheirtongues
http://www.crucialblastshop.net/

Fatal Morgana – In Quiet Us (Arkeyn Steel Records 2010)

I’m sure many of you already can see where the influences in this one lay, one of my favorite metal tracks of all time off of Fates Warning, Awaken the Guardian, but don’t blindly expect FW here as this band has it’s own prog metal skill and style that is extraordinary in itself. Hailing from Hellas Greece this power prog metal bands 1995 2 song Demo (hailed as a monumental release back in the day) and previous unreleased Windfall album from 1996 are finally seeing proper release as In Quiet Us this month on Arkeyn Steel. I’m a huge prog head and there’s definitely Fates Warning here, but I actually more of a heavy melodic prog album with epic metal leanings. Everything about this band is the big pink elephant in the room named PROG, you can’t miss it and you certainly fucking love it…BUT it’s 100% classic epic metal as well so don’t expect anything less than that.

“Close at Hand” opens the album up nicely with a total Awaken the Guardian like heavy prog metal track. The guitars shred and chug along steadily to give it a bit of aggression as the rhythm itself noodles around behind it as a free flowing amorphous entity, no predictability, but absolutely smooth throughout. You can hear the bass notes as they walk through the direct the curvature of the song structure, nice and clear along with the leads and drums, the production is so clear that you can see straight through the mix and capture each instrument equally.

“In Speechless Words” continues with the FW comparison in vocal sound, but toward the last half of the track they bust out a guitar jam that has an almost gypsy/flamingo time signature and it just totally stops your heart for a moment to go “whoa” and gasp. This is definitely an audio treasure to behold, there’s nothing here that’s standard or been done before, this band definitely stands out!!!!!


“Tempest” is the album closer and is a heavy metal version of classic prog with the theatrical and eerie vintage organ intro reminiscent of old horror soundtracks, I totally hear Antonius Rex, that streams into a killer guitar arpeggio and semi classical vintage synth piece before being blasted into a heavy prog assault. Only 6 minutes, but screams out as a more modern version of the essential: Malombra, Antonius Rex and L’Impero Delle Ombre sound.


Totally essential for fans of: Fates Warning, Enchanter, early Queensryche (oooh yeah!!!!), Psychotic Waltz; also recommended for fans of: While heaven Wept, The Atlantean Kodex, and classic prog/prog metal.

Keep an eye out for the re-release of The Last Things rare 1993 album, Circles and Butterflies” if you dig Watchtower and Psychotic Waltz as I do, Arkeyn Steel will be unveiling that in the near future.

www.arkeynsteel.com

Secret Druid Society – Restless (First Fallen Star 2010)

Opening up with the appropriately titled “Deserted World”, SDS illustrates imagery of the beginning of the universe, right after the initial violent eruption that led to the creation of all matter and the universe as a result. The ambient drones allude to the sound of an object in projection but retarded to a speed of liquid bead of viscous tar as it almost hovers past you.

The sense of aimlessly drifting in a state of uncontrolled motion and being only directed by the natural compulsion of the space around you is continued into “Restless”, as the highly entropic state of the universe is pure chaos, but the type of chaos that is pure freedom and riding a natural flow. Although the sounds contained within Restless as an album are hypnotic and cerebral, they do convey a sense of darkness…mystery, and even an eerie quality that could very well be describing absolute chaos as one would hear it if they were right on the cusp of being consumed by a black hole.

Right before entering a black hole it is speculated that everything slows down to the point a complete stop and to an observer next to you it’d appear as if you were frozen in that position for ever although you’d been long since removed from existence in the gravitational pull and “Lonely Moon” captures that odd sense of watching something freeze at the brink and remain that way as you do for an uncertain length of time that could be considered forever.

“Phobia (Stones are Moving)” is the ironic truth of the situation told through sound as particles in the universe continue to divide and collide amongst each other for billions of years and your existence was brief and almost meaningless in the whole situation. Things continue without you and the only memory of you is a snapshot carried by some sort of radiation of your final moment.


“Restless(Night is Here)” is a 15 minute drone drift through astral planes where the synth waves reverberate over you like time freezing to a pause, you can almost feel the lethargic chill from the wake of some sonic occurrence across your skin as this track makes it tingle.

“Dawn Over the Deserted World” represents your landing on the terrestrial surface of some ancient looking planet. There’s a distorted electronic flute serenade guiding your eyes across the horizon and a sense of tranquility and conclusion are now felt within.

“Endless Ice Planes” moves past slowly and heavily, as if you’re standing at the shore or on a cliff overlooking an alien turquoise sea and hear the sound of monolithic crystallic ice mountains as they crawl past you. If there was a sound for time at an almost stand still velocity, this track would come very close to it.

For audio samples and ordering:
http://www.firstfallenstar.com/main.php?releases&mn=1

Hell Militia - Last Station on the Road to Death (Debemur Morti 2010)

This album opens up with a trippy, pseudo-hallucinogenic audio sample of a what sounds like a doctor dictating the behavioral pattern of a junkie which is pretty unique in itself.

“Born Without Light” comes in swiftly as a chaotic black metal assault to the senses as it murderously cuts into your soul with a raw and unapologetic guitar buzz and miserable vocals. There’s a sense of spite and bitterness is this weird cacophony of despair and all out violent bouts with a nice surreal, almost horror film sense to it. The drums sound like heavy footsteps echoing down the hallway as you cower behind the door in the dark fearing for your life. Given the opening track, it could be about struggling with the paranoia and delusions from withdrawals or just a state of pure insanity taking over, either way it’s definitely a bit creepy and unique and I fucking love it.

“Unshakable Faith” is sort of the dialogue/narrative of the evolution of the situation after the last track where the character has definitely gone over the edge and now the world is coldly assessing their view. About halfway through this cold and calculating track the main character unleashes his/her psychotic break in full with maniacal groans of pure lunacy and anger.

“Et Inferno Ego” is absolute insanity and chaos, somewhat reminding me of a rawer version of Deathspell Omega. It’s pure cyclone clanging and screaming that circles around you like a massive cyclone that inevitably sucks you violently into the deepest void of misery and hell.

“The Ultimate Deception” is another uniquely haunting and grim track that sounds as though it’s dispersing through some dark crevice from deep within the Earth where all is fire and molten lava. This whole album is unique but not too avant-garde, mixes the raw and belligerent black metal trademarks with a sense of blackened hallucinogenic and torturous personal atmospheres to create something of a soundtrack to a nightmare.

Highly recommended for fans of: Deathspell Omega, Krieg, Krohm, Leviathan, Xasthur, Tenebrae in Perpetuum.

Excruciator – By the Gates of Flesh (Heavy Artillery 2010)

I recently made the public announcement in my review of the pretty impressive new school thrash act Vindicator that I’m not big on the new wave of thrash, well…as with most things there are exceptions to the rule and Excruciator is my exception. I really like this label and many like it who prevail to release some of the freshest cuts of metal flesh, and now they are releasing their "Heavy Artillery Wax Maniax Demo Series" featuring mini LPs and cds of some of the coolest obliterating metal sounds today, so for the oldschool heads out their, check that out for sure: http://store.heavyartillery.us

Now for this release, it’s vile, aggressive, colossal and just guts you like a pig ready for the roast with it’s gruff raw death/thrash vokills and unrelenting guitar stabs and jigsaw rip cuts of chords. As with many bands on the label there’s a good amount of progressive rhythm changes to give each track a sophisticated and swerving quality as you are tossed through the tracks like breakfast from your stomach due to a bad hangover. I would be willing to actually bet a few limbs that the first listen to tracks like “Nuclear Exmortis” and “By the Gates of Flesh” you will be climbing the walls as your jaw drags on the floor behind you from your initial, FAAAAAAAAWKKKKKKK!!!!!!!!! response as this thing knocked it clean off the hinges. I HAVE to have this animal in my collection and living with a grouchy old punk, I think he’ll be more appreciative to hearing this thing alongside my Blood Feast and Nuclear Assault blaring then the doom stuff. Bow down to the power contained here, this shit will annihilate anything within 1000 miles of its sonic epicenter!!!!! You MUST have this!!!!!!!!!!!

Essential for fans of: Nuclear Assault, Blood Feast, Kreator, Celtic Frost!!!!!

Audio Samples and band contact:
http://www.myspace.com/excruciator1