Review: Mouth Wound ‘Nothing Will Belong To Us’
Trine Paaschburg has been making music under the Mouth Wound moniker since 2013 and to date has self-released three EPs, one full-length album and the 2021 single Die Freiheit von der Hoffnung ist die vollkommene Freiheit. The sophomore full-length Nothing Will Belong To Us is out on Brucia Records and marks her first release on an actual label.
The recordings here are reportedly based on improvised live material that has been accumulated over the past couple of years. The album promises to be an unsettling affair which balances, as stated on the promo notes, ‘moments of deep melancholy with abrupt and brutal climaxes in which the peace is mauled by a cacophony of noise and guttural screams’ and lyrics that express ‘such an instinctual and emotional desire to find meaning through a persevering feeling of emptiness’. I may need to play some AC/DC after by the sounds of it for some light relief. I jest, I’m actually looking forward to hearing this, so let’s dig in…
Burrowing features beautifully mangled violin and gothic influenced drones to help get us in the mood, whilst the vocals have a haunting disembodied quality that recall dark folk artists such as Plum Green and Marissa Nadler. A superb way to kick things off. Primordial Satisfaction vocally reminds one of Jarboe on Swans’ Can’t Find My Way Home (from The Burning World), however, there is also a harrowing quality present ala Diamanda Galas, albeit not to the same extreme as The Litanies Of Satan album, but then again what is?
Dummy Foal by contrast is a little more meditative and akin to a Buddhist chant of some kind, or OM gone electro to put it in a less poetic way. Paaschburg‘s ghostly vocals drift in and out while the glorious dark ambient sounds enveloping the track colour me impressed (spot The Replacements reference?). You Won’t Let Leaving Come Between Us is folkier in spirit in a manner reminiscent to The Wicker Man and with an ethereal quality that would suit Mark Jenkin’s brilliant recent film Enys Man. All these factors make this my favourite track by a country mile.
An uneasy listen, it makes your average death/black metal outfit seem quaint by comparison…
She Wants You Motherless taps into Lingua Ignota and Pharmakon with savage screams that make the whole affair seem like an emotional exorcism. An uneasy listen, it makes your average death/black metal outfit seem quaint by comparison, superb. Is It All is vintage industrial with a lot of clattering and banging that brings the likes of legends such as Cabaret Voltaire and Throbbing Gristle to the fore, representative of a time when industrial meant exactly that; as opposed to thrash metal with the odd sample thrown in.
Esophagus, the album’s shortest track, continues the disturbing vibes of She Wants You Motherless and Alike Alive is pure black noise goodness that to quote the great philosopher Nigel Tufnell, ‘It’s like, how much more black could this be? And the answer is none: none… more black’. It Surrounds You Like A Child has a creepy ominous feeling that has you thinking of the Jocelyn Pook piece that soundtracks the masked ball scene in Eyes Wide Shut. Hilary Woods may also come to mind and the overall sombre tone makes it the ideal track to conclude the album.
Nothing Will Belong To Us will not appeal to everyone, especially those accustomed to a more traditional song format, its atonal sounds proving baffling, inaccessible and uncomfortable. However, as someone who spends a good deal of time listening to the likes of Lustmord, Gridfailure etc, I found it to be a profoundly moving and intriguing piece of work overall.
Label: Brucia Records
Band Links: Facebook | Bandcamp | Instagram
Scribed by: Reza Mills
