Despite slithering out of the Floridian murk close to a decade ago in demo form, Worm’s last five years have been marked by several rapid metamorphoses (from black metal to rotted doom/death to a statelier, sometimes funeral doom-leaning grandiosity). Coming almost exactly one year after the release of their third full-length (the gruesomely magical Foreverglade), at first glance Worm’s new EP Bluenothing feels like a prime example of a band striking while the iron is hot. It also, however, invites speculation of what future direction Worm might take, because any change in style can be a dead end or an open door.
Although Bluenothing’s 26 minutes make for a seamless, engrossing listening experience, they don’t necessarily construct a singular narrative arc, and in that sense, the use of the EP format is smart. It doesn’t feel like a grab-bag of leftovers, but it also doesn’t represent a uniform or fully realized change in direction. Instead, especially given the differences in personnel across these four songs, Bluenothing feels like an interregnum that caps a period of thrilling expansiveness while also clearing the way for a new chapter.
The most notable personnel change for Bluenothing is the addition of Wroth Septentrion (otherwise known as the neoclassical and tech-death shred wizard Philippe Tougas, also of Atramentus, First Fragment, Chthe’ilist, and more) on lead guitar. The EP’s biggest statement piece is the opening 11-plus minute title track, and Tougas makes his imprint felt swiftly, stepping in just after the one-minute mark to punctuate the song’s very Disembowelment-like opening with a white-hot flair. Moving between probably a half-dozen discrete sections with ease, “Bluenothing” would feel very much at home on an Esoteric album. It shapeshifts easily from a slow-motion boogie around the three-minute mark to a deep, almost guttural choral synth effect at around 4:30.
The atmospheric keyboards of band leader Phantomslaughter (also responsible for vocals, bass, and additional guitar) are omnipresent throughout, but they always complement rather than overshadow the guitars. At the 6.5-minute mark, Phantomslaughter’s keyboards switch to a pipe organ tone while Tougas’s guitar wanders through a slow-motion solo that, ahem, sears very much like an early My Dying Bride album buried beneath the waves. The sonorous, monastic chants that bloom around 10 minutes in are a melancholy touch, perfectly suited to the despondent way the song fades to rest.
In both style and title (“Centuries of Ooze” closed out the Foreverglade album), “Centuries of TMNT II: The Secret of the Ooze” is the most direct follow-on from the previous album, swelling and riding out a set of melodic riffs so dipped in molasses that they almost sound like Candlemass circa Nightfall played at half-speed. “Invoking the Dragonmoon” is a scene-setting interlude that allows Tougas more room to explore; its guitar soloing against a backdrop of spooky chimes and rustling water sounds comes across a little bit like EVH’s “Eruption,” but with bats.
The EP’s closing track, “Shadowside Kingdom,” is the biggest potential curveball, as it dispenses entirely with the melodically funereal death/doom in favor of a halfway split between symphonic noodling and ripping, shit-hot black metal in the style of Emperor or early Arcturus. The song’s opening feels very much indebted to “Alsvartr,” the intro track on Emperor’s Anthems to the Welkin at Dusk, and when the blastbeats kick in about halfway through, the heavily synthed yet scything aggression shares a kinship with early Limbonic Art. Just after the 4-minute mark, the guitars work in some ultra-gleaming, high-fret wailing in the style of Sarpanitum or Mithras, but as the song pulls back and then re-enters for its punishing and majestic final minute, it almost feels like Yngwie Malmsteen doing a guest spot on Emperor’s Prometheus.
But from there, do you know where Worm goes next? Do any of us know where to go tomorrow? The message you need for today is: Bluenothing is fantastic. It does all of the best things that Worm has done so far, and it also does a few new things that are also awesome. Worm’s development to date has been so compelling that wherever they might choose to go next (suggestion: industrial black metal shred Yanni covers), it is certain to be worth following.
