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Label: I, Voidhanger Records US // EU // Bandcamp
Genre: Progressive Black Metal
Release Date: 28-07-2023
In the two months and change that I have been listening to the promo for Formløse Stjerner (“Formless Stars”), the sophomore album from Denmark’s Tongues, it has grown exponentially. Indeed, from its initial formlessness one reaches a point where it is impossible to look away from the black hole that the atmosphere conceals. The band hits many taste centers with uncanny precision. From salty waves of Doom riffs echoing on the back half to spicy Death Metal outbursts (latter part of “Awake in the Macrochasm”) to the sour and dramatic tremolo riffs of Black Metal, Tongues cover a lot of ground. Acting as savory binding, Psychedelic Rock riffs find a space that recalls the work of Suffering Hour. But the predominant taste that ties it all together is a bitter atmosphere that stifles even the hopeful solos that emerge from the deep to vainly gasp for air. Valdrin comes to mind as well, though Tongues are not as much slaves to the riff as they opt to focus mainly on the whole arc of the album.
That is not to say that there are no riffs throughout Formløse Stjerner. A quick spin of “Awake in the Macrochasm” will show that Tongues never dwell on any one riff for too long, despite the length of the four songs making up the album. This includes the almost sixteen-minute title track that builds to the album’s climax where the sound is simply pulled under the surface, drowning. Sound is, as expected, very important to what Tongues are trying to accomplish here and the production is perfectly balanced for the band to hit the mark. Everything sounds wet, with splashing cymbals and muffled bass and drum hits but everything is also clearly audible, hiding nothing like a band with less confidence would like to do. Every band member delivers a captivating performance, yet floating just above the waves, Antonius Lovmand Marcussen‘s vocals channel the terrifying natural force of Formløse Stjerner into a pointed weapon. He excellently retches, screeches, and otherwise bemoans the album’s theme of dreams drifting further away with time and rotting in the sky like the titular stars. Few, if any, Black Metal albums will be able to top Formløse Stjerner in 2023. Many bands try to sound atmospheric, crushing, desperate and bitter, but, like most great art, Formløse Stjerner does not try, it simply is.
Rating: 8/10
