Worm

Worm, Bluenothing (20 Buck Spin 2022)

Wayne Edwards, , , , , , , ,

Florida swamp doom band Worm cast off into the unknown with Bluenothing.

One year after the massive and tectonically heavy Foreverglade, Worm is back with a mightily impressive EP, Bluenothing. Off now in a different direction, Phantom Slaughter (vocals, guitar, bass, and synth) and Wroth Septentrion (guitar) are joined by session musicians to complete the presentation: Nihilistic Manifesto (guitar, “Shadowside Kingdom”), Necreon (bass, “Shadowside Kingdom”), L. Dusk (drums, “Bluenothing” and “Centuries Of Ooze II”), and Charlie Koryn (drums, “Shadowside Kingdom”).

The first song is the title track, “Bluenothing,” and it starts out appropriately sorrowfully. This is the kind of music you could play after a wake. In addition to the expected granite cliffs of rhythm guitar and the proportionately dreary vocals, the elegant lead guitar provides beautiful interludes through the saturating darkness. The song is incredible, and if you hear only it from the record you have benefitted to an almost gratuitous level. I don’t want to over-hype it, but this is one of the best tracks I have heard this year.

“Centuries of Ooze II” leads with an organ as the advance troupe heralding ocean-deep guitars. A taste of eastern mysticism tinges the composition as the glacial flood of incalculable loss overtakes you in the listening. “Invoking the Dragonmoon” is a short transition piece leading to “Shadowside Kingdom.” The final track is a curiosity that could be the soundtrack to a scene in a dark fantasy movie where a magician is conjuring something you can tell will be bad for everyone involved. The chanting backs up the sentiment, and the wan guitar guarantees a dark future that arrives promptly with black metal vileness. These four songs are layered artifacts, shimmering themselves and portending an inevitable continuation. Recommended.

Bluenothing is out on Friday, October 28th through 20 Buck Spin. Have a look through the links below.

Links.

Bandcamp, https://listen.20buckspin.com/album/bluenothing

Worm Bandcamp, https://wormgloom.bandcamp.com/merch

FFMB review of Foreverglade, https://flyingfiddlesticks.com/2021/10/20/worm-foreverglade-20-buck-spin-2021/

20 Buck Spin Records, https://www.20buckspin.com/

© Wayne Edwards

Worm, Bluenothing (20 Buck Spin 2022)

Worm, Foreverglade (20 Buck Spin 2021)

Wayne Edwards, , , , , , , ,

Florida gloom band Worm continues further down the path of deep dark doom on their third album, Foreverglade.

Formed around 2014, Worm’s early music was more oriented toward a straight-forward black metal tint. As they moved along, the doom emerged and quickly intensified into a lead-heavy oppression. Evocation of the Black Marsh came out in 2017, followed two years later by Gloomlord. The driving force behind Worm is an entity known as Phantom Slaughter whose work is enhanced on the new album by Nihilistic Manifesto, L. Dusk, and Equimanthorn. I wonder if those are their real names.

Foreverglade opens with the title track, sure in its stance and determined in its eeriness. It is a creeping combination of funereal guitar riffs, muffled death metal vocals, and ethereal, almost ritualistic sounds. On “Murk Above The Dark Moor” the composition has moments that are choir-like in their dirge and reverence, positioned against passages slightly paced up and massive in their density. And then, unexpectedly, there is a lead guitar break that is transportive. Side one closes with “Cloaked In Nightwinds,” the longest track on the album. It is a churning, clompy excavation of darkness.

“Empire Of The Necromancers” has an active beginning volley that is positively rapid compared to the tracks that came before. Excellent lead work early on in the song is a memorable highlight, as are the lyrical keys. “Subaqueous Funeral” is a single-length dark beauty with a pulse and flow that is engaging and mesmerizing in the guitar. “Centuries Of Ooze” brings the curtain down on the set, returning to the solemnness of the opening but even more mysteriously. I am a funeral doom fan and this music could fit in that category for its sheer heaviness, but it is more active than the typical strain and so creates its own description and enigma. Recommended.

Foreverglade is available on Friday, October 22nd through 20 Buck Spin. Ordering information can be found below at the label’s website and Bandcamp for the digital, CD, and cassette versions. There is a vinyl edition that is due January 28th, coming out later because of the well-known worldwide vinyl backlog.

Links.

Bandcamp, https://wormgloom.bandcamp.com

20 Buck Spin, http://www.20buckspin.com

Worm, Foreverglade (20 Buck Spin 2021)