Black Tongue - Falsifier (EP Review)

Black Tongue
Album: Falsifier EP
Genre: Deathcore/Hardcore
Facebook

Track Listing:
1. H.C.H.C.
2. Fauxhammer
3. A Pale Procession
4. Ire Upon he Earth
5. Falsifier
6. Voices

Download (320kbps) | Support | Preview: (Free stream of full EP)

BLACK TONGUE - FALSIFIER
EP REVIEW

So you think your band tunes low? Think again. 

Say hello to Black Tongue, a side project from Aaron Kitcher and Eddie Pickard of Infant Annihilator, the UK's heaviest online phenomenon. As is to be expected, this 6 track offering is bowel-crushingly heavy. Gone, however, is Pickard's sweeps and Kitcher's stupidly fast blasts; Black Tongue is all about ominous, slow brutality. Take a generous helping of death metal and deathcore, a sprinkling of hardcore and slow it right the fuck down, and what you'll be left with will be damn near what Falsifier sounds like.

I can't stress this enough. This is a HEAVY EP. The drums are slow and punishing, the guitars filthy and sinister, the bass is earthshaking and the vocals are powerful. I've seen some reviews scattered about the Internet that his vocals don't suit the sound of this band, and I wholeheartedly disagree. His powerful, hardcore-esque vocals suit the downtempo heaviness of the EP, and it's a surprise when he summons forth some of the most evil sounding gutturals this side of Bozeman. I instantly thought of the Whitechapel powerhouse when Teyen came in on H.C.H.C, and that's a high compliment.  See: A Pale Procession. 

A drawback would be the guitar tone the guys have chosen for the release. I've seen it compared to a tin of angry bees, and I have to say that it's a bit top heavy for my tastes. However it does add to the feel of filthy, underground heaviness that Black Tongue is getting known for, and it's aggressive. If they were a riff oriented band I can see it impeding on the music, but it fits into this downtempo groove nicely and sudden moments of chug (see: Ire Upon The Earth') become powerful as fuck.

The parallels between Black Tongue and Infant Annihilator are inevitable, just as Stone Sour were compared to Slipknot and Megadeth were (and still are) compared to Metallica. But these comparisons are unjust, as the two projects were destined to differ from their inception. In Kitcher's own words : 'Infant Annihilator is like Epic Meal Time. A plethora of meat hacked up and smashed into a gargantuan meal. Cooked at home with a lot of laughs, it will fill you up and be absolutely ridiculous. On the other hand, Black Tongue is like a restaurant-served prime cut medallion of the finest steak. Definitely still pure meat, but cooked with a professional eye, love and care.'

Black Tongue is a band that do nothing new, but they do it well. Their brand of brutal, death-infused hardcore has been done many times before, but it's never been as angry as this. Black Tongue mean business.

9/10

For fans of: Sworn In, Seeker, Whitechapel, Not Infant Annihilator 

Stand out moment: the unbelievable heaviness of the middle section of A Pale Procession.

Reviewed by Ben Sutherland for The DuckCore 2.0