WIR ESSEN SEELEN IN DER NACHT

I have always believed that Mayhem, the norwegian band, was the scariest entity in music. No other band I know of have been capable of such horrififying sounds, walking that thin line between utter chaos and order. So, I have found I am to be proven wrong on that point.

I am no stranger to black metal. Nor am I the greatest aficinado. I feel I have a healthy fondness of the genre. They took a step backwards, in the birth of the genre, and created a stripped down yet complex movement. The sounds that emenated through their speakers proved utterly menacing, dark and visionary. Their progressive attitude, in the sense that they created something new out of old, is really an impressive achievement, regardless of what you think of the music. Black metal is these days a multifacetted genre, holding a myriad of subgenres. There is alot I find appealing but as with any genre there are alot I can't stand. It is a tough nut to crack, I'll give you that, but when you do there are nuggets to be found. Just a you will on a smorgasbord.

I started this review by explaining how I have clung to the idea of Mayhem as the scariest band on Earth and all time. Well, my point of view have hardly changed. Rather it has been modified. I have listened more to Mayhem than Gnaw their tongues, so it is a bit early for a total reassasment of that standpoint. I wil however proclaim this EP as the scariest thing I have ever Heard. Really. It is so utterly frightening that it is almost unbearable.Still it intrigues me.

Just like Mayhem this one man band manages to walk that thin line between chaos and order. If you listen very casually you will hear only noise but when more carefully examined you will find traces of order and structure. It's like taking a tour of Hell. Amidst the agony, sense of disorder, breakdown and dispair there has to be some organisation to pul it off. Someone has to be in charge of tickets and maintaining the Hop-on-hop-off bus.

There is no obvious track that I feel is the better one. "Droom van de Rattenvreter" is possibly the most ordinary among the four tracks, including something what could be called an ordinary black metal section. The rest feels like listening to thousands of years of human pain. I feel moved and touched, actually. By some strange coincidence I feel like I am getting in touch with all those people who has ever been mistreated in, say, the witch hunts. I do not know whether or not this album is about that (or what it is about at all) but that feeling haunts me.

"Haunts". That was quite an apt thing to write This is a very haunting experience. It is intriguing, bewildering, scary, saddening and disturbing album. How do one rate such recordings? Somewould say it's not even music but I beg to differ. This is not my usual cup of tea. I do not ever start my day with black metal, in general, and I will not start nor end my day with this album. Yet I must acknowledge the strange vision and skill by which it is made. I drew comparison to Mayhem and feel a certain connetion to Athur Browns "Strangelands" aswell. The latter being fare more organic, obviously, and "Wir essen Seelen in der Nacht" more of an Electric affair. This is not music to be taken lightly. It i seriously scary and disturbing.

All in all I feel that I must deliver my rating and by that my final judgement. While I find it hard to see it as an "Excellent addition to any prog rock music Collection", because is is certainly not for anyone to venture into, I feel that the effort and execution deserves four stars. Have I lost my mind? No, I don't think so. I have to go with my gut feeling and that tells me, four stars it is. No matter how intelligable, disturbing or hard to digest this is, it still is an impressive recording by someone with a vision and mission. If that's not prog I don't know what is.

"Wir essen Seelen in der Nacht" ("We eat souls in the night") is an EP release by Dutch noise/drone/industrial/black metal act Gnaw Their Tongues. The EP was independently released in November 2014 and offered as a "name your price" option on Gnaw Their Tongues Bandcamp profile. As on nearly all other releases by Gnaw Their Tongues, Mories is responsible for all instruments, vocals, artwork, and production. A true one-man army.

Stylistically "Wir essen Seelen in der Nacht" belongs in the more noise/drone oriented part of the project's output, and the 4 tracks on the 18:41 minutes long EP don't feature many metal elements. The eerie haunting atmospheres and the samples of classical instruments are central elements in the sound along with the usual unpleasant noise effects. Some sections of the tracks feature tortured screaming by Mories, but this is mostly an instrumental and overall rather disturbing listen. Mories is incredibly skilled at building terrifying atmospheres designed to send chills down your spine. And he succeeds in doing that on this EP too, but overall the music lacks memorability and climaxes to hold on to, and to my ears Mories has taken the noise/drone aspect of his sound a bit too far on "Wir essen Seelen in der Nacht". It's of course an aquired taste, but personally I prefer the Gnaw Their Tongues releases which feature more metal elements. This simply has a tendency to become a bit tedious.

"Wir essen Seelen in der Nacht" is packed in a professional, detailed, and relatively raw sound production, which suits the music well. Compared to the sound productions on some of the previous releases by the project, the production here isn't nearly as raw sounding. Overall it's another intriguing release by Gnaw Their Tongues although Mories haven't chosen his best material to appear here, but a 3 star (60%) rating is still warranted.