Black Tongue's 'Nadir' Is the Jedi the Metal Community was Looking for

This current year, 2018? Quite a year for music. Bands like Soreption, Behemoth, Revocation, Aborted, Irreversible Mechanism, Dragonlord, and a whole bunch of other groups dropped pretty solid albums. While I disregarded some records, like Anaal Nathrakh's new one. Heard it was pretty good. But in general, it's been a fairly busy year. Back when 2017 was ending, and there was some pretty anticipated and praised records, that streak just seemed to have not stopped. The music senses continued to tingle until something sparked in my head.

Black Tongue, where have they been?

The Unconquerable Dark was a pretty great record, rough around the edges, muddy, and cathartic; it was something to go back to whenever the need for some doom and the depressive music was in mind. This time of listening to this music ceased when a video, in particular, was released.

Of course, this brought up excitement for me and other fellow metalheads who were wondering where the hell these titans from Hull, England were. Long story short, the band experienced rushes, stresses, and struggles during the recordings of their debut full length, thus leading them to the hiatus, dropping their label deal with Century Media Recordings, and just basically going dark for a bit. It was during this time when Eddie Pickard (guitarist of the band) and Aaron Kitcher (drummer and everybody's favorite dedicated spacebar pusher) came together with Dickie Allen (of Scumfuck) to drop the second record for one of the biggest internet memes in Deathcore. The E.G.G. Literally. Infant Annihilator's sophomore record, The Elysian Grandeval Galeriarch became such a big record, even some dude presented the music video of their NSFW "Motherless Miscarriage" to his grandparents.

In general, Infant Annihilator is one of the biggest names in Deathcore, and it's a masterful record in many ways.

Well, two years after that album is released, it is time for the elephant in the room. The record, itself. Nadir was self-released on Halloween Day. This freedom gave them the ability to publish their inner sonic vision. Even with a title like Nadir, this record proves the name ironic, as the quality and overall music is the Zenith of the Deathcore 'scene' today. This record is around 44 minutes long, so it might be a bit to listen to. Will Black Tongue get progressively more Blackened, or will they return to their down-tuned beatdown madness? Let's see.

So, hows the music?

To start, this music production is fantastic. Nadir has the clearest production Black Tongue has had thus far. Everything is clear and individual. This is primarily a necessity in a genre that has a slow, downbeat, down-tuned sound. Clean production with space to fill with the ringing of the snare, the riffing, and whatever the hell works. Oh, speaking of riffs, This record is filled with them. Nobody was lying in the video when they said Riffs as a way to describe the album. A sweet fresh taste of that is displayed on the starting track, "The Eternal Return to Ruin", which has a winding, repeating groove to it for the first minute and a half. Already do we have a good taste of how this production is, the drums sound amazingly clean, the guitars are filthy, it's what you expect out of Black Tongue.

Nadir isn't afraid of speeding up to a tempo unusual for Doom Metal, which is what we hear from the get-go on the second song, "The Cathedral. "Especially new given Black Tongue's previous records, the fastest song they've released before this was L'appel du Vide, from The Unconquerable Dark. The quick blast beats and riff-mania carries through the album. Other songs that follow this formula are "Contrapasso" and "Parting Soliloquy," this song probably being the best at starting the song off with that formula. Second Death is a pretty solid tune, with a bit of an offbeat intro that flows amazingly well into a festival of chugs and dissonant screech. At this point, calling the band "Doom" is a bit of a stretch. This variation of speed is a substantial evolution from their Doom-Beatdown-ish days when Born Hanged hit the scenes around five years ago. Ambiance ensues when you approach Black Fawn Temple. Pretty solid. Not much to say.

As you can tell, this album is what it's anticipated to be. But what's a fantastic album without a fantastic single to hype it up. Ladies and Djents (help.) I present...

"Ultima Necat" is the ending of the first half of the album, and this was the first single that was released. It begins with the growls of the band's vocalist, Alex Teyen, the droning riffs of Eddie, and the slamming of the toms from Aaron. This song then drops into a slow, unwinding and repetitive tune for a good minute. That's when the song hits 2:20. The song speeds up; the chugs build up. Then things get groovy. "Ultima Necat" is easily the best song on the album. Hear it for yourself. Listen to the whole goddamn record, while you're at it.

This next track is a pretty cool one. It's a cover of Celtic Frost's "A Dying God Coming into Human Flesh" a song featuring some clean singing. Clean Singing, of course, isn't too familiar in the deathcore genre. But it fits so well here, as it's just Doom Metal. So it's just different. It's a pretty long song, as well. Pretty nice.

Black Tongue was not afraid to start with a shout, and what better way to finish the record in a whisper growing into a roar, you know. "Crippled Before the Dwelling Place of God" slowly ends the album. In a very Ambient fashion, as well. Using riffs, wails of the guitars, static, to create the finishing touch of an album that has indeed opened my eyes to the doom metal genre itself.

Nadir is a perfect example of an album that kicked the concept of the Sophomore Slump into the ground. It can come from their whole problem with creating their debut, or the actual evolution of the band. The band seemed to enjoy a bit of beatdown mixed into their doom sandwich, as seen on their two debut EPs, Born Hanged and Falsifier. These EP's and their Debut are like building blocks to right now, each record that they release making a stairway to right now. This album is amazing. If you haven't listened to it, you're missing it out. I'll even post the link to the stream here.

Nadir gets a 10/10.

Check out Nadir, out on October 31, self-released by Black Tongue.