Narcosa / Gnaw Their Tongues

This split release is a peculiar one, because it consists beyond tracks of each band, interpretations of each of them. Accordingly is it appropriate to discuss each track as well as each 'additional version' separately.

Narcosa - Kadavergehorsam
(Dark) Ambient is the dominating facet in this song and it is kept very minimalist over the whole period of time. In its progression noise elements are added, like rippling of water, a 'howling' noise texture or distorted guitar sounds, but there is never much happening at a certain period of time. «Kadavergehorsam» is a very slow and very relaxing song, somehow luring but not hypnotic. Actually, it is pretty short with five minutes in length and it is somehow like moving from one stage to another; through a bleak landscape, berift of life and only haunted by restless souls, whose mourning is caught by the listener's ear.

Kadavergehorsam (Gnaw Their Tongues remix)
Well, the most obvious contrast to the original is the more in length. The next one would be the larger amount of volume and layers in the song. Even though the basis of «Nacrosa»'s version can still be recognized, «Gnaw Their Tongues» has been able to enrich the song in a neat and fascinating way. Of the plainness and simplicity not much is left and the additional noise elements work fine with the original idea.

Conclusion: the interpretation made by «Gnaw Their Tongues» has turned a very simple structured song into some with depth and interesting facets.

Gnaw Their Tongues - Transcending
On their own this «Gnaw Their Tongues» are again how they used to be: sick, disturbing and with the proper mixture of noise, metal and samples. The song is rather mid-tempo and in comparison to a lot of sick stuff that has been releases by this band, actually quite brave. Distorted vocals and guitars dominate the song in their special way, depending on the segment that the listener has to 'endure' currently'. The whole song can be divided into several segments of which each has its unique atmosphere and set of elements. In terms of the atmosphere the music takes a rollercoaster trip from aggressive ones over to something more calm and back to a mixture of both.

Transcending (Narcosa remix)
The cover version is slightly shorter than the original, about a minute, and is utterly different in a lot of respects. First of all are the drums gone, then are there no guitars, also the samples seem to have vanished to a good deal, the overall dynamic of the track seem to have vanished into oblivion etc. It is like stripping one of all clothes and then of the skin, the flesh and perhaps even taking of some organs, too, because they do not fit one's look right now. There remains some body of the person and some features and facets might even be discovered again, but the overall impression is rather that of confusion. Such is the interpretation of «Narcosa». This band seems to have a fancy for minimalist music and their version of «Transcending» is a good example of it.

Conclusion: fascinating to see what some bands make of a track of another one.

Final comments:
This is a really interesting release. Not because of some outstanding music, but rather because it is interesting to see these two bands re-interpreting the art of the other one. If the outcome is perceived good or bad, depends a lot on the eye (ear) of the person who listens to this piece of art. Nevertheless should be noted that doing it THIS way is certainly more interesting than a lot of the stuff that metal bands have done and are doing... and will do.