L'ARRIVÉE DE LA TERNE MORT TRIOMPHANTE

L'Arrivée De La Terne Mort Triomphante is the 5th full-length studio album by Dutch noise/ drone/ avant garde extreme metal act Gnaw Their Tongues. The album was released in September 2010 by Crucial Blast Records. Gnaw Their Tongues is a one-man project consisting of Mories who creates all music and art for the project.

The music on L'Arrivée De La Terne Mort Triomphante is in Gnaw Their Tongues usual noise/ drone/ avant garde extreme metal style. While I´m not 100% sure ( there is no lyric sheet in the CD) it seems that there is a lyrical concept about death on the album. The word "Mort" is present in all five French language song titles. The music on the album is not easily digestible and is pretty sure to be an aquired taste. Layers upon layers of sampled noise and what sounds like orchestral samples, screaming and tortured distorted vocals, bleak distorted riffs somewhere in the back of the mix and the repetitive nature of the rather long tracks ( ranging from 7 to 11 minutes in length) will probably only appeal to few. The atmosphere is dense and at times almost claustrophobic and suffocating in it´s noisy intensity. I find it hard to sit through the entire album unless I´m in the mood for it, but when I´m in the mood Mories is able to create bleak tortured images in my mind no other artist can. While my enjoyment with his various projects varies, I think Mories is the true definition of a musical genious. A pretty twisted one too.

All five tracks on the album are enjoyable even though some of the most noisy and repetitive ones could have prospered from a hook or two IMO. My favorite here is without a doubt the absolutely epic opening title track L'Arrivée de la Terne Mort Triomphante. One of the best tracks yet from Mories hand. It´s grand, dark and beautiful beyond belief. This one is actually able to move me greatly.

As usual Mories has created a a dark, noisy and atmospheric production. In the case of Gnaw Their Tongues the production is almost like an extra active instrument that creates the unique sound.

I have listened to many of Mories projects in the last couple of years and compared to what I perceive as his best output I can´t say that L'Arrivée De La Terne Mort Triomphante is all the way up there. If the other four tracks had moved me the way the title track does, this might have been a 4.5 - 5 star album. All tracks are still high quality compositions though and they have a very unique sound to boot, so a 3.5 star rating is still warranted IMO.