ALBUM REVIEW: Worm – Gloomlord

Time for some grotesquely doomy Death Metal in their form of WORM’s second album. Out now via Iron Bonehead Productions and Headsplit Records and reissued via 20 Buck Spin.

Ambient guitars set a cavernously rich opening tone for the album, with chimed in drums and gritty guitar joining the mix for a filthily gruesome introduction piece that has tons of atmosphere, especially when the dark growls from the vocalist begin. The morbidly doomy assault wastes no time in bellowing forth a huge wall of disgustingly grisly Death Metal with disturbing vocals and ferociously stomping drums alongside some convulsive guitars.

This is clearly not just a standard Death-Doom record, the estranged melodious atmosphere and otherworldly instrumentation is utterly fantastic while there is definitely no lack of savage riffs, barbaric blastbeats and gutturally spewed vocals, all the components of a killer Death Metal album and plenty more is definitely present. The way Worm churn out such putrid music is seemingly effortless with smooth transformations, plenty of diversity in rhythmic pounding and most importantly this huge range of ideas is done in a way that is marvellously compatible for a concisely tight listen. Chugging brutality and mesmerisingly haunting melodies balance to make an enticingly gorgeous yet frankly rather ugly experience for the listener, balancing the two sides of their sound in beautiful, filthy contrast.

An almost hypnotic state can be effectively gained from paying close attention to this release while it does not lack the swampy, blundering violence that all good Death Metal keeps at the heart of its sound. Packed with headbanger fuelling riffs, eccentric progressions and total macabre chaos, there is an unrelentingly repugnant and genuinely wonderful mixture of all things dark and odious, a reeking blend of pure magnificence.

An expansive, vast slab of sheerly astounding Death Metal brilliance that is far from the norm yet retains the gripping morbidity we all know and love. -8/10