The Gorgon Tongue is the latest reissue from Relapse of the metal/noise/ambient project Horseback, and its primary creative force Jenks Miller.  Last year, Relapse reissued Horseback’s The Invisible Mountain, which quickly became one of my favorite records of 2010.  For The Gorgon Tongue, Relapse has collected the rare limited edition cassette Forbidden Planet (Brave Mysteries, 2010) and the CD Impale Golden Horn (HFQ/Burly Time 2007) onto one album.

Taken as a whole, this record represents the more ambient/noise side of Horseback.  Long sweeping soundscapes filled with repetitive multi-instrumental riffs, and only minimal vocals give the album an almost hypnotic quality — hypnotic in the best sense of the word.   Each of these songs feels like their own separate universes of sound, and they draw your ear into listening more and more acutely as they progress.

The songs from Impale Golden Horn have a strong piano emphasis not present in the songs from Forbidden Planet, and every note simultaneously stands out and blends in from the rest of the instruments in these songs.  “Laughing Celestial Architect,” from Impale Golden Horn, is one of my favorites.  It slowly builds in intensity until about two minutes in when the piano starts playing, at which point everything fades into the background swirl, becoming subservient, and simultaneously complimentary to the piano.  The song fluctuates in intensity throughout, with a bit of drums turning up the intensity for a bit, before fading and taking the piano with them, leaving the other instruments again in the foreground.

“Introducing Blind Angels” is another favorite for its minimalism.  The softness of the sound for most of its duration — in feeling, not volume — draws in the listener, keeping them hooked on every note.  Fans of The Invisible Mountain will most closely relate to “Veil of Maya (The Lamb Takes the Lion),” the song closest to the sound present on that album. This song is where I would point The Invisible Mountain fans to check out before they explored the rest of the album, for that reason.

The Gorgon Tongue is a fine release, representing a facet of Miller’s work that was not as prominent on The Invisible Mountain, but is equally as vital to the overall sound of Horseback.

(Relapse Records, PO Box 2060, Upper Darby, PA 19082)