I’ll admit I was very curious about this Danish bands second full length after giving the opening track a listen on the label’s Bandcamp page. I was suitably impressed and opted to try and cover it and luckily I was granted my request as like many other Danish black metal bands Tongues don’t do the norm whatsoever. With only four tracks spanning nearly 40 minutes this is a sonic exploration through sublime structuring, malevolent musicality and astringent ambition. ‘Elder Fire’ opens the release and whilst I’ve decided the band is predominantly black metal there are avant-garde elements threading through all the songs. An ambient sinister piece starts ‘Elder Fire’ possessing a foreshadowing for the maliciousness that you know is to materialise and indeed it does, but not in the way you’d expect. There’s a progressivity to the metal phase when it appears, tinged by eerie riffing and atmospherics as the build-up leads into a fine vocal roar. There is a cacophonic like quality to the ensuing blast section, not chaotic but just the way the song produces an uncomfortable, disturbing feeling with the tempo dynamics.

‘Awake In The Macrochasm’ follows the opener and that avant-garde thrust continues as the songs creepy dissonance affords an unsettling riffing style that is strangely alluring and hypnotic. The track has a repeating style that is equally transfixing as the riff change after about a couple of minutes shifts the intensity sideways when the harsh vocals filter in. Usually vocals in this genre are truly hostile but here, there is a nonchalant relaxed tone, though at times they manifest a tortured disturbing tone as the song offers another riff change to great effect. In places the progressiveness conjures up doom like soundscapes as the drop into a brief isolated guitar piece is fraught with primal bitterness that subsequently showcases a cleaner almost shouted vocal style that links into banshee screeches. Added to that the song boasts fine guitar work, the lead breaks especially, with a tuneful interjection you wouldn’t ordinarily expect considering the malfeasance of the songs overall.

‘Mouth Of The Deep’ starts with drum work and a slight echo before a piercing primitive riff punctures the mix. The impending blasted sortie is also unexpected because the riffing holds onto the eeriness it started with, never veering in intensity but retaining its creepy aura. There is a suspenseful edge to the song as the guitar work switches to a chaotic styling with rampant tweaks and portentous perniciousness as the track drops back abruptly to unleash a dread filled section that is chilling and carries the song to its conclusion with doom like passages added too.

Closing the album is the colossal 16 minute title track as a dread filled menace starts its opening phase, an eeriness that skulks through its melody for a minute or so before flowing into blackened doom pacing. Its slow oppressing density is cloying, an epic enveloping wall clusters around the listener offering no way out from its nightmarish approach. It takes about six minutes before any signs of change appear and whilst transient the result is effective adding a layer of tension before it abruptly drops back to an ambient piece. The gradual fade-in of guitar work worms into your head as the riff returns to opening style creating a repeating nature that has similarities to the hypnotic stance I mentioned early.

This is not an easy listen, it is unsettling throughout, brushed with progressive ambition and harnesses an intrinsic malevolence that makes this an extremely uncomfortable but very enjoyable experience indeed.

(8.5/10 Martin Harris)

https://www.facebook.com/tonguesdk

https://i-voidhangerrecords.bandcamp.com/album/forml-se-stjerner