For nearly a decade, Dutch avant-black / doom entity, GNAW THEIR TONGUES - named after a particularly evocative passage from the Book Of Revelation - has been infecting the underground with a uniquely disturbing brand of chaotic heaviness. Fusing together malevolent, rumbling doom with rabid, noise-damaged aggression and blasts of fearsome orchestral power and industrial pandemonium, and draping these lurching, hellish dirges in an oppressive atmosphere thick with horror and despair, the intensely nightmarish music of GNAW THEIR TONGUES defies easy categorization. The sum of all GTT's construction and execution is the work of sole architect and madman, Mories, also known for other destructive output with CLOAK OF ALTERING, PYRIPHLEGETHON, DE MAGIA VETERUM, ADERLATING, MORS SONAT, POMPIDOU, DIMLIT HATE CELLAR and others. Before the release of the band's Crucial Blast debut, An Epiphanic Vomiting Of Blood, in 2007, GNAW THEIR TONGUES crawled into the black metal/industrial underground via a number of ultra-limited EPs which quickly went out of print, and are now sought after by fans of the band's abject blackened horror. Collected Atrocities 2005-2008 is a new double CD anthology that gathers together essential, out-of-print early recordings from the band that span the first three years of GNAW THEIR TONGUES's existence, compiling the Preferring Human Skin Over Animal Fur, Horse Drawn Hearse and For All Slaves... A Song Of False Hope EPs, the material from the Static Hymnal compilation, and other rarities from the bowels of the GTT archive.
Review
Collected Atrocities 2005-2008 is not an easy listen. The material here is demanding. With over two hours of music, it can be hard to listen to this all in one go, but taken little by little, it helps these tracks become more powerful and memorable. Again, the second disc features some of the deeper material, but that does not discount some of the amazing moments from disc one. The longer tracks may loose some impact a bit, but this compilation is a great starting point for anyone interested in this project. Dark, haunting, and honestly terrifying, Gnaw Their Tongues is one of the more impressive bands of the noise/drone style. - Metal Observer 5/5