.For those that have never heard of you before, can you tell us a little bit about the solo project?
Thy Tongue is a Japanese solo black metal project founded in 2021.
I’ve started a symphonic black metal project called Quoth the Raven in 2019, and then I want to play music which focuses guitar more, so I’ve founded Thy Tongue.
While Quoth the Raven is inspired by myths and poetry such as Edgar Allan Poe, Thy Tongue treats the dark themes such as death, suffering, fanaticism and so on.
2.So far you have released an ep, can you tell us a little bit more about the musical style that you went for on the recording?
As you pointed out, the EP is mainly influenced by mid 90’s black metal, specifically Norwegian bands such as Mayhem, Darkthrone, Immortal, Kvist etc… And I am inspired by some Japanese black metal bands influenced by LLN like Manierisme.
The weird single notes and layer of melodies are slightly LLN style.
Although I’m influenced by many black metal bands, basically, I always try to write riffs which have dark, sad and solemn touches.
3.What are some of the lyrical topics and subjects you have explored so far with the music?
This is a concept album about a fictional religion which declares life is just pain and death is only salvation.
The name of the first song “The grace of the Lord be with all” is quoted from the bible, but the “Lord” does not mean God. It means death, not reaper. If you turn up the volume and listen to carefully, you can hear some words that induce you to kill yourself.
As the title describes, “Prayer I” and “Prayer II” are prayers to death. The lyrics worship death, praise people who kill themselves as noble, and assert that now is the time to be free from the pain of life.
The last song “Salvation” draws the scene of the mass suicide of believers. In the song, the guru declare that suicide is not only the way to be free from pain but also the perfect way to express hatred against this world. The lines of outro portrays the image of countless suicides covering the earth and the blood of them spelling the hymn to death.
You can hear some quotation from the bible. It means this fictional religion is derived from christianity.
By the way, the concept doesn’t have any intention to insult christianity. In the first place, I don’t believe in any kinds of religion. I’m not satanist of course.
4.What is the meaning and inspiration behind the name 'Thy Tongue’?
I use the word “Tongue” as words. So Thy Tongue means “your words”.
Commonly, human beings are influenced by others. What we speak and what we think is influenced by what we’ve seen and heard. Music also affects us in many ways, and it may shape our thoughts sometimes.
As I told, Thy Tongue music is influenced by many black metal bands. In that point, I can say Thy Tongue is a crystal of many black metal band’s words. And of course, Thy Tongue may be your words in some way.
And what is more important is the name sounds evil.
5.Can you tell us a little bit more about the artwork that is presented on the ep cover?
It is “Death on horseback holding a trumpet, from 'The five deaths’” by Stefano della Bella, Italian artist who lived in 17th century.
6.With this project you record everything by yourself, are you open to working with other musicians or do you prefer to work solo?
Although I want to work with other musicians, there is no musicians who have similar taste in music around me. In addition, I have not enough time to cooperate with other musicians recently, so I will do solo work for the time being.
But if there is a band who has similar value, I want to work with in the form of split album or so.
7.So far very little is known about the solo project, do you prefer to keep a lower profile?
It’s just that there is no interesting information about this project. So if I get questions I will answer as far as I can.
8.Currently you are unsigned, are you looking for a label or have received any interest?
I have not received any interest, so now I’m looking for a label.
9.On a worldwide level how has the reaction been to your music by fans of black metal?
Unfortunately, I have hardly got the reaction. There are fairly downloads but there are no reviews except here.
If it is possible, I want to read reviews and know what people think about my music.
10.When can we expect a full length and also where do you see yourself heading into as a musician during the future?
I don’t have enough time to write full length now, so it will be in two or three years later.
For the time being, I will mainly release eps and single.
11.What are some of the bands or musical styles that have had an influence on your music and also what are you listening to nowadays?
When it comes to this project, Thy Tongue is mainly influenced by mid 90’s black metal, particularly Mayhem, Immortal, Darkthrone, Kvist, Satyricon, Lord Belial, Taake and so on. And this project is also influenced by LLN and LLN style Japanese black metal bands such as Manierisime, Arkha Sva etc…
As for my taste in music, I listen to black metal as described above and more melodic and symphonic ones like Dissection, Sargeist, Glorior Belli, Der Weg einer Freiheit, Departure Chandelier, Akhlys, Ulver, Anorexia Nervosa, Emperor, Pensees Nocturnes and Cradle of Filth…There are ever so many more.
Apart from black metal, I listen to melodic death metal - old In Flames is where my metal life began, classical music -Bach is great-, jazz, post rock, dark folk and so on.
Recently, I often listen to Lilium and Thurnin. They are good dark folk bands.
12.Before we wrap up this interview, do you have any final word sor thoughts?
Thank you for interviewing.
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