Church Tongue - 'You'll Know It Was Me' EP Review

Tracklist:

1. Heart Of Darkness

2. One Hand Wrapped Around The Sun

3. When It Betrays - feat. Colin Young

4. The Fury of Love - feat. Crystal Pak

5. Bury Me (One Thousand Times)

6. You'll Know It Was Me - feat. George Clarke

Four years after their last release 'The Hubris Of Gods Departed', Midwest-based metallers Church Tongue return with 'You'll Know It Was Me', released February 14th via Pure Noise Records.

Opening track 'Heart Of Darkness'' launches right into things, with some phenomenal aggression around, but especially in the vocals if Mike Sugars. The guitar tones from Chris Sawicki and Nicko Calderon (also of Knocked Loose) are as ominous as they come, and Sugars provides one of the most raw breakdown callouts providing a great transition into the half-time breakdown, before the track ends as abruptly as it started.

Next up is 'One Hand Wrapped Around The Sun'. Another short track, closing in at 1:26, it comes right in with the main riff, and is a brilliant pairing with the drums from Kyle Spinell, who also shows off his chops with intense blast beats to emphasise the punishing riff. The track leaves nothing on the table, providing an extremely punishing experience made all the more effective by the short run time.

'When It Betrays' - feat. Colin Young follows, picking up the pace even more. Once again, Calderon and Sawicki work brilliantly together to provide some insane guitar work, and bassist Jack Sipes shines in some standout moments in the bridge. The vocal feature from the God's Hate drummer/ Twitching Tongues vocalist Colin Young works extremely well with Sugars' intense vocals, and reminds me of the vocal dynamic of Mastodon

'The Fury of Love' - feat. Crystal Pak carries the EP on, with one of the most sinister guitar riffs so far to kick things off. After slowing things down in the intro and first verse, the energy gets kicked back up to eleven with Calderon and Sawicki's frantic riffs, along with some insane drumming from Spinell. They take it back down to half time with some phenomenal bass work from Sipes while Sugars lays down some of the most brutal vocals on the EP. Crystal Pak of Initiate crushes her vocal feature at the end, ramping up the energy of the track even further close out the longest effort of the EP, clocking in at 4:40.

Exploding eight from the get go is penultimate track 'Bury Me (One Thousand Times)', showcasing the raw energy of Church Tongue, whilst also showing their versatility. The track pulls from many different genres across its brief 2:21 run time, with half-time and black metal inspired sections, it's an absolutely punishing track executed to pure perfection, with each band member playing off everyone else brilliantly.

Title track 'You'll Know It Was Me' - feat. George Clarke closes things out. Originally written by Calderon as a Knocked Loose track, it slows the pace right down, beginning with an acoustic riff with Sugars' intense screams layered over top, with the rest of the band crashing in for an instant crescendo. George Clarke of Deafheaven's distinctive screams work in tandem with Sugars to create a brilliant contrast, once again showing some black metal influences, especially with the fervent blast beats from Spinell. The acoustic guitar re-enters for the outro, adding a brilliant layer to Church Tongue's already diverse sound and closing out the EP in decisive fashion.

'You'll Know It Was Me', simply put, is a phenomenal exercise in the expressive nature of metal. Calderon has stated “Mike [Sugars] wanted to write about the different kinds of love and the different ways that you can love—for example, loving yourself enough to end a toxic friendship, or loving yourself enough to become sober", and that same love is evident in every facet of the EP. You can tell that each member loves making music, and that love has manifested itself in an absolutely phenomenal way. Church Tongue are definitely a force to be reckoned with, and a band you certainly need to watch in the years to come.