Maurice de Jong (born 5 September 1973), known by his moniker Mories, is a Dutch composer and musician. He is best recognized for his multiple music projects, namely

Gnaw Their Tongues Gnaw Their Tongues is an experimental musical project started by Dutch multi-instrumentalist and composer Maurice de Jong, otherwise known as Mories. It was founded in 2004 and produced a debut album in 2006 titled '' Spit at Me and Wreak Havoc ...

, Seirom, Aderlating, Cloak of Altering and De Magia Veterum. His compositions are informed by

ambient music Ambient music is a genre of music that emphasizes Musical tone, tone and atmosphere over traditional Musical form, musical structure or rhythm. Often "peaceful" sounding and lacking Musical composition, composition, beat, and/or structured melod ...

black metal Black metal is an extreme metal, extreme subgenre of heavy metal music. Common traits include Tempo#Beats per minute, fast tempos, a Screaming (music)#Black metal, shrieking vocal style, heavily distorted Electric guitar, guitars played with tr ...

drone music Drone music, drone-based music, or simply drone, is a minimalist genre of music that emphasizes the use of sustained sounds, notes, or tone clusters called '' drones''. It is typically characterized by lengthy compositions featuring relativel ...

electronic music Electronic music broadly is a group of music genres that employ electronic musical instruments, circuitry-based music technology and software, or general-purpose electronics (such as personal computers) in its creation. It includes both music ...

and the

avant-garde In the arts and literature, the term ''avant-garde'' ( meaning or ) identifies an experimental genre or work of art, and the artist who created it, which usually is aesthetically innovative, whilst initially being ideologically unacceptable ...

. His interests lie in invoking a disquieting and nightmarish atmosphere with his music, which often utilizes distortion and dissonance. Lauded as a most prolific composer, de Jong has recorded an upwards of three albums per year since 2007.

Biography

Early work (1988–2002)

Maurice de Jong began performing with bands in 1988, most of whom were influenced by

death metal Death metal is an extreme metal, extreme subgenre of heavy metal music. It typically employs heavily distorted and low-tuned guitars, played with techniques such as palm muting and tremolo picking; deep death growl, growling vocals; aggressive ...

and

doom metal Doom metal is an extreme subgenre of heavy metal music that typically uses slower tempos, low-tuned guitars and a much "thicker" or "heavier" sound than other heavy metal genres.K. Kahn-Harris, ''Extreme Metal: Music and Culture on the Edge'' ...

. In the early nineties he performed with Cauteror and Soulwound, who performed lengthy songs that emphasized a depressing atmosphere, traits that de Jong would later adopt in his solo work. He started his own solo project in 1993, named Astral. Inspired by the

Greek Greek may refer to: Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor of all kno ...

outfit

Necromantia Necromantia was a Greek black metal band that was founded in 1989 in Athens. Alongside Rotting Christ and Varathron, they are considered to be pioneers in establishing the Greek black metal scene in the early 1990s. The band is notable for the co ...

, the music omitted the use of the

electric guitar An electric guitar is a guitar that requires external electric Guitar amplifier, sound amplification in order to be heard at typical performance volumes, unlike a standard acoustic guitar. It uses one or more pickup (music technology), pickups ...

, with the electric bass guitar playing an integral role in the compositions. Several demo tapes were recorded between 1993 and 1994. In 1996, de Jong founded a solo project called Ophiuchus, which recorded ''I Am Thou Art They Will'' and ''Nihilistic Cosmic Concept'' in 1998. The project would be revitalized as Cloak of Altering in 2010. In 1997, he began working with The Nefarious Cult, who recorded a single demo titled ''Initiation of the Nefarious Throne''.

De Magia Veterum (2003–present)

Maurice de Jong formed De Magia Veterum in 2003 and served as an outlet for his more

–leaning compositions. In contrast to his other music, the music of De Magia Veterum is primarily guitar-based while continuing to explore

avant-garde music Avant-garde music is music that is considered to be at the forefront of innovation in its field, with the term "avant-garde" implying a critique of existing aesthetic conventions, rejection of the status quo in favor of unique or original elem ...

with an emphasis on dissonance. Five albums have been released under the name: ''Spikes Through Eyes'' (2005), ''The Apocalyptic Seven Headed Beast Arisen'' (2007), ''Migdal Bavel'' (2009), ''The Divine Antithesis'' (2011) and ''The Deification'' (2012). Three

EPs An extended play (EP) is a Sound recording and reproduction, musical recording that contains more tracks than a Single (music), single but fewer than an album. Contemporary EPs generally contain up to eight tracks and have a playing time of 1 ...

were released as well.

Gnaw Their Tongues (2004–present)

In 2004 Maurice de Jong conceived a new musical project under which he intended to compose and record named Dimlit Hate Cellar. By 2006, he changed the name to

, inspired by a passage from the

Book of Revelation The Book of Revelation, also known as the Book of the Apocalypse or the Apocalypse of John, is the final book of the New Testament, and therefore the final book of the Bible#Christian Bible, Christian Bible. Written in Greek language, Greek, ...

. Gnaw Their Tongues became the most prolific and critically recognized of Maurice de Jong's projects, with '' An Epiphanic Vomiting of Blood'' and '' L'arrivée de la terne mort triomphante'' recognized as highlights of his discography. Originally a studio-based project, Gnaw Their Tongues began performing in live performance settings in Spring 2015.

Aderlating (2008–present)

In 2008, Maurice de Jong formed Aderlating with keyboardist Eric Eijspaart (Mowlawner, Slavernij, Kraaiengebroed). The duo was formed after de Jong received multiple requests from people interested in booking Gnaw Their Tongues for live shows. Aderlating plays

drone Drone or The Drones may refer to: Science and technology Vehicle * Drone, a type of uncrewed vehicle, a class of robot ** Unmanned aerial vehicle or aerial drone *** Unmanned combat aerial vehicle ** Unmanned ground vehicle or ground drone ** Unma ...

- and

noise Noise is sound, chiefly unwanted, unintentional, or harmful sound considered unpleasant, loud, or disruptive to mental or hearing faculties. From a physics standpoint, there is no distinction between noise and desired sound, as both are vibrat ...

-based music, restricting itself to electronics and drum beats in the live setting. They have primarily performed around Europe.

Cloak of Altering (2010–present)

Cloak of Altering serves to continue of the Ophiuchus project of the late nineties. The music utilizes synthesizers as one of the prominent instruments and

plays a larger role in the compositions. Four albums have been released under the name: ''The Night Comes Illuminated with Death'' (2011), ''Ancient Paths Through Timeless Voids'' (2012), ''Plague Beasts'' (2014) and ''Manifestation'' (2015)

Seirom (2011–present)

Citing exhaustion caused by the bleak nature of his previous work, de Jong founded Seirom with the intent of releasing music emphasizing love and beauty. He cited his personal need to explore the more positive side of life as driving force for writing the music.

Discography

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Jong, Maurice de 1973 births Living people 20th-century Dutch male singers 21st-century Dutch male singers 21st-century Dutch singers Dutch male guitarists Dutch composers Musicians from Friesland 20th-century Dutch guitarists 21st-century Dutch guitarists