Gnaw Their Tongues - An Epiphanic Vomiting of Blood (2007)

Full-length, Burning World Records
December 15th, 2007

There was a time in my life when I was on the hunt for the most extreme music possible. Music that would make you want to rip your face apart with your bare hands. The music that would completely fuck you up mentally. More often than not, I found solace in many of Mories' various projects. Mories is an artist who produces the most fucked up, abrasive, terrifying music that I have had the pleasure of listening to, the best bands being 'Gnaw Their Tongues', 'Aderlating' and 'De Magia Veterum'. I stopped listening to this stuff some time back so as not to burn myself out, but decided to give this album a listen a day back. And I have to say, what I heard literally grabbed me by the balls and flung me across the room.

I heard the first track and was very impressed, but being the idiot that I am, I decided to perform the acid test, i.e listen to it while taking a walk at 3 in the morning on a pitch black, winter night. And the experience was simply tremendous. I will not describe the music much, because it is virtually impossible for me to do so. The moment I pressed Play, I was sucked into a vortex of an inhuman howling noise, distorted seismic drone, chilling keyboard noise and an almost random drum pattern. Various samples are used and these add to the coldness of the music. Most of the samples are from horror movies about serial killers calmly describing the death of a few innocent people. This when merged with the music makes radiates a disturbing, ghastly feeling that can not be expressed.

On to the whole listening experience. I have to say, this was perhaps the most intense and difficult listening experiences I have ever had. The moment I pressed Play, I was possessed by some force. Something terrifying and foul. It felt like something nameless and shapeless just rose from the darkness and was just waiting to envelope me. On to the second track, 'Teeth That Leer Like Open Graves' and possibly my favorite one, I felt like time had stopped still. I was being unknowingly dragged into a void where I couldn’t rise up from. The 'fear' gripped me and I just ran. What I ran from I do not know, but there was something menacing about the night. I could imagine the shadows shifting and a strong force appearing. A force filled with the stench of negativeness and death. You almost feel suffocated by it. It was at this moment that I turned back because I was too terrified to go any further. By the time I got home, I had not heard the last track yet, but I simply could not bring myself to listen to it. Drained of all energy, I just went back and switched the music off; and my mind suddenly went numb and blank. As if nothing had ever happened.

All I can say is, this music is not for everybody. In fact, I dont think it is for most people. This band blows away every other band who claim to be the 'sickest' and 'most vile'. Don't listen to it if you are hoping to listen to some instrumental 'proficiency'. This is more than that. This is far more terrifying than any horror movie. This is pure audio terror. Disturbing and devastating.

Utarm - Minus the Divine

Demo, Turgid Animal Records
2009

I have been on the lookout for the most fucked up music recently. Been constantly listening to a lot of sludge, drone and noise. This search finally led me to Utarm; a band from Norway, who label their style as ‘experimental black metal’. But I assure you, this is nothing like the other experimental bands that you have heard.

A lot of amazing things are happening in the underground black metal scene at the moment. Many amazing bands are being spawned with alarming regularity. Lot of brilliant releases which are destined to remain underground and unheard. And none more extreme than this release by Utarm. Minus The Divine is a follow-up to the brilliant full-length release, Mutilation Epoch

The album starts off with the amazing opener, ‘The Greatest Lie’. It gives you an idea of what to expect in the rest of the album. It starts off with a slight buzz with some ambience thrown in complimented by some whispered vocals creating an unsettling atmosphere. Just when you begin to settle in, the buzz grows louder and before you know it, you are suffocated by a wall of noise. This never lets up throughout the album and with every passing moment, you can feel yourself drifting deeper and deeper into a dark abyss. As unexpectedly as it began, the noise subsides and gives way to the next track ‘Knives, Veins and the God of Nothingness’. It’s a three minute long track with some screams over a disturbing, troubling piece of ambience. The third track is the title track. Definitely one of the best I have ever heard in this genre. Simple in its execution, it is evil and depressing. Some of the darkest music I have ever heard. The song is raw and never lets up. Pure emotional annihilation. The next track, ‘Flesh and Flames’ follows the same path. A fucked up mixture of drone, black metal and noise that threatens to destroy your senses.

This is not an easy release to listen to. It is not easy to grasp. My review probably doesn’t do enough justice to it. It has a nice raw and primitive sound, but packed with so much of emotion and energy. It reeks of desperation, despondency, hopelessness, anger and sadness. Every passing moment, you are pulled deeper and deeper into this abyss, this abyss from where it is virtually impossible to get out of. It is akin to drowning underwater with somebody holding your head down. It is an intense experience and will destroy every fabric of happiness and joy in your life.

This is not meant to be a casual listen. Listen to it with all of your attention and listen to the album as a whole. Only then will you be able to appreciate it. This is one experience you don’t want to miss.

Aderlating - dying of the light

EP.
Jan 2010
FREE DOWNLOAD ONLY: http://www.archive.org/details/dying_of_the_light

Aderlating is a project of Mories, the disturbed, twisted artist behind the overwhelming ‘Gnaw Their Tongues’ and ‘De Magia Veterum’. He has always been one to take extreme music to a new level with an exceptional catalog or original and diverse releases. So, when I heard about this project, I decided to check it out as soon as I could and try to keep my expectations as low as possible lest I be disappointed. But surely, Mories could do no wrong…right? RIGHT. What we have here is Mories delving into a gruesome and corrosive atmosphere with Aderlating playing a mixture of Black Noise, drone and black metal thrown in to create an oppressive environment of torture and vengeance.

The sound here is murky. Murky to the point where you feel its been submerged in a never-ending pit of murkiness, creating a pulse of ugly black noise. Buzzing black metal guitars are submerged into the blurred landscapes. You will find some heavy distorted bass which gives a harsh discordant, noisy tone. The drums are primitive and drive the music brilliantly. There is a section in the second song ‘Soul Harvest’ in which all you can hear is some dark ambiance, slow plodding riffs but fast and bizarre drums. Sounds peculiar and very different and pretty much depicts the madness of the artist. The vocals range from high torturous screams to some mysterious chanting and outright creepy voices. They complement the claustrophobic and the torturous sound of the music perfectly and at times, even add a sense of dread to the overall sound. The synths are stunning. Depicting pain and torture, they are used to awaken fear, psychosis and the agony that has been lodged deep beneath the human soul.

The music here is aimed at total emotional obliteration. You are immediately transported into the mind of a maniacal, unstable individual devoid of reason or logic. You can experience a plethora of emotions ranging from fear to misery. It grabs the attention of the listener. There is never a moment when the listener would be able to draw his breath over a long period of time. Never a moment where he would be calm. This is the total darkness. Highly recommended to people who like chaotic black metal, noise or dark ambient music.