"Glacier Tongue"
The New Rongeur Album
Four years after their first official album, "An Asphyxiating Embrace", Rongeur released a new record on November 5th. If you like your music raw and heavy or are a fan of bands like Neurosis and High on Fire, you shouldn't miss "Glacier Tongue".
Rongeur was formed in 2012, when former members of Ampmandens Døtre, Exeloume, Untime and Martyrs got together to enjoy making music. They recorded various demos and split EPs before releasing their debut on Poacher Records and Ampmandens Records in 2017.
In the meantime, the band from Oslo has landed on Fysisk Format. They also released their exciting new work "Glacier Tongue" there. They recorded it at Venteværelse Studio, Vaterland Studios and Swerve City Studios. Ruben Willem finally mixed everything at Caliban Studios and took care of the mastering.
"Glacier Tongue" is an angry statement
"Glacier Tongue" offers a total of eight songs full of raw and harsh beauty. The record is political, straightforward and quite brutal.
Rongeur have put to music precisely what we have all missed so badly within this year full of questions. Their record sets a dark and accusatory statement that critically questions the human existence and the cruelty in which we exploit our planet.
The aggression unleashed behind the instruments instils respect and once more proves what an excellent anger outlet music is. Nevertheless, Rongeur don't sound uncoordinated or careless at all.
Bassist and singer Dag Ole H. Huseby, drummer and singer Jon Dahl Tveter and guitarist and singer Audun G. Jakobsen manage to channel their anger and deliver a perfectly orchestrated work.
Rongeur have become more versatile
"Glacier Tongue" is a wildly rotating musical maelstrom. If you compare the record with the previous album, you will notice that the trio has gained even more drive and versatility. Rongeur are in the fast lane at full speed and ready to take on the genre's giants. With that slight touch of punk attitude, sludge really gets you going.
The fearful screams in "Underachiever" and the heaviness of songs like "Gutter Marathon" and "Kurt's Last Will" are getting under your skin. Rongeur are showing their displeasure to the world's leader, and they do it loudly.
Although there are also, believe it or not, a few quiet moments on "Glacier Tongue". "Brace", for example, builds up at first, letting its heaviness shine through, before the piece transitions into a harmonic part, which, however, disappears again behind dark clouds during the last two minutes of the track.
Screaming the pain into the night
My favourite song on the record so far is "Years Of Withering", which might be because it is probably the most balanced song on "Glacier Tongue". Friends of post-metal reladed music will surely agree with me.
All in all, Rongeur's new LP is a pleasure to listen to. With "Glacier Tongue", the band has written a theme for the ongoing world crisis. With just 40 minutes in total, the album is a call to humanity to stop being quiet and hiding all anger under a thousand layers of ignorance and arrogance but to go out and scream the pain into the night.