Gnaw Their Tongues: Abyss Of Longing Throats

Another nosedive into Hell from despair’s gatekeeper

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Sometimes, the thought of horrors lurking behind a door is far more terrifying than the reality of looking into the eyes of the beast.

Gnaw Their Tongues have long exploited the fear inherent in the unknown, burying a nefarious and formless message of mortal devastation within sustained, scabrous collages of noise and mutant anti-music, with only a faint affiliation with black metal’s avant-garde wing providing any kind of breadcrumbs to enable the fainthearted to retrace their steps.

And if previous GTT releases struck you as hostile and exclusive, Abyss Of Longing Throats is not going to draw you any further in to project mastermind Mories’ sickly, doomed sonic world. But for those willing to surrender to the pitch-black void, this is an immersive and hypnotic bad trip. The crackling static and subterranean throb of Through Flesh is arguably the most spiritually manageable thing here; the rest is overwhelming in its bleak insistence. Be, and stay, afraid.

Dom Lawson
Writer

Dom Lawson has been writing for Metal Hammer and Prog for over 14 years and is extremely fond of heavy metal, progressive rock, coffee and snooker. He also contributes to The Guardian, Classic Rock, Bravewords and Blabbermouth and has previously written for Kerrang! magazine in the mid-2000s.