Anything that describes itself as being influenced by "bad weed, solitude, Von's demos and Goblin's soundtracks" is sure to be a hit around the C-Blast office. This new one-man band came into being with the intent to fuse together the most morbid side of death industrial with the filthiest of the early 90s black metal camp (Von, Profanatica, Beherit, Archgoat), which sounds like a match made in heaven where we're concerned; although the death industrial side of Poison Tongue is much more obvious than the black metal side (with much of this reminding us of Atrax Morgue), we still loved this tape, the first ever release from this side project from a member of the lust-driven power electronics gang Pink Sexdeath.
Actually, the black metal influences are pretty hard to miss, especially after listening to Lick You a second time. The tape opens with a booming kettledrum cadence that echoes across a smoldering field of staticky synth drones and looped demonic mutterings and vomitous croaks, this charred black ambience laced with strange chiming sounds, bursts of bass flutter echoing through the subterranean abyss, distant wailing choruses, and sheets of slowly shifting keyboard drone, but as distorted synthesizer chords pulse beneath the metallic drones, the drooling demonic vokills that start to emerge turn this into something like hearing a Slaughter Productions death industrial tape with Nuclear Holocausto from Beherit invoking sex demons over it. From here, it continues on through a miasma of grinding black sludge, harsh high end drones and orgasmic beast-grunts; towards the end of the second side, these massive spaced out eruptions of thunderous blastage and barely-there drift suddenly give way to a hammering percussive rhythm, while blackened shrieks soar over the nightmarish industrial pounding. When the last track arrives, the sound shifts into a swirling stygian ambience, shrill metallic keening and eerie minor key darkness pooling out within clouds of noxious black smoke, abrasive streaks of fx pedal afterburn, and mutated, murky pipe organ dirge.
We're advising those of you into anything from Mortuor to Sewer Goddess to Havohej to Prurient to check into this thoroughly unhealthy debut from Poison Tongue. Like the RU-487 tape on No Visible Scars, this black chrome cassette also comes in a 7" style sleeve, with some unwholesome full color cover art and a small hand-numbered insert card. Limited to fifty copies.
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Lick You Sweety appears to feel comfortable dwelling in perversity. From the lewd cover art to the dark pools of rhythmic noise, Poison Tongue takes the listener on a dark path while varying the sound with blasts of noise, leaving the listener to lick their wounds.
“Diabolos” begins with an eerie, dark ambient drifter of a piece, with muffled bangs along with some synth-like tones that dwell throughout the song. At times deep spoken word will filter in, a fairly indecipherable poem that adds to the atmosphere without drowning out the tones. It’s a swift-moving piece for 8 minutes, and where at first the mood is somewhat bleak, Poison Tongue drops the bass and windy moans for a more upbeat ending. “Diabolos” is a suitable name, as the drones showcase a fairly bleak environment perfect for Hell.
The dark ambience of “Diabolos” continues with “Sweet Desire,” this time with a similar background drone but with a perversity missing on the opener. Full of buzzing electronic outbursts and cackling dark growls in the darkness of the noise, “Sweet Desire”‘s impact comes directly from its themes and the unsettling vocals, along with the chiming sound of a distorted clock ticking away the hours. This is an excellent track to follow up with, and again, the witchery of the sound draws the listener into the shadows.
“Lust” is a short but intense track to end side A of the tape, beginning with a lilting buzz, some foreshadowing blasts, and then a noisy blast of screamed vocals and harsh noise. It’s somewhat out of place after the longer, drifting ideas of the previous tracks, but this also seems the point – a surprise shock to the senses before the tape flips for three more disturbing cuts. ”The Lizard Lord,” while being the longest track on the album, maintains similar ideas but incorporates some of the harsher noises of “Lust,” like screamed vocals along with blasts of static and crunchy tone shifts. It’s not too much different from the textures of the first two tracks, but it does follow the motifsLick You Sweety carries.
“Interlude” seems to provide the same type of intercession as “Lust,” breaking up the drone of the album with a fast-paced, bassy and pounding rhythm that’s very similar to power electronics, with manipulated and distorted vocals on top. It does its job well, shifting out of the monotony of the other songs just long enough to jump back into the ambience with “Ripping.” Featuring whirring tones underneath some higher end feedback tones and a horror-soundtrack synth line, “Ripping” differs from the deep dark mood of the other tracks by providing a welcome change in pitch.
Lick You Sweety is mainly focused on the dark ambient genre, with repetitious but rhythmic drones mixed with elements of horror soundscapes. Some of the tracks seem rather similar, but Poison Tongue manages to infuse different types of noise in the tracks to foster a sense of individuality; however, tracks like “Lust” and “Interlude” manage to improve the release by giving listeners a chance to leave the meandering drones for quick blasts of harsher noise. If these cuts weren’t on the tape, Lick You Sweety could have gotten stale; fortunately, that’s not the case here, and the C34 doesn’t lose steam except for perhaps a few moments on “The Lizard Lord.”
