I have a complicated relationship with Worm WitchOn the one hand, I was overwhelmed by her second performance The heaven that dwells within us. I still play it after five years and regularly recommend it to anyone who is interested in the subgenres of melodic black metal or black n’ roll. On the other hand, I was generally disappointed with their successor. Wolf Hexthat I was lucky enough to review. Although I ultimately gave it a 3.0, I haven’t listened to the album much since and still consider it a significant step back from their previous work. Now I sit here, holding the latest album from these frigid Canadians (which actually came out in July) in my loving arms, hoping beyond hope that this self-titled bundle of joy is right Wolf Hex’s well-intentioned injustice and signals a return to the old form. As AMG reviewers, we are taught to live in hope, die in despair, and finally write the damn review. So enough of what I want This is the record; is it good or what?
Well, it’s certainly not what I was hoping for. Worm Witch proven on The heaven that dwells within that they possess the ability, both as musicians and songwriters, to deliver high-quality melodic black metal that is memorable without lingering too long; that incorporates elements of death metal, speed metal, crust, hard rock and even folk without ever losing its essential, blackened edge; that weaves stirring, melodic passages between ice-cold layers of growling brutality. And while Wolf Hex Much of the immediacy that one finds on HTDW, it was still clear that Worm Witch were able to keep their creative spark alive, albeit somewhat dampened. Worm Witch, although, it sounds as if the once impressive flame is flickering and threatening to go out completely.
Sometimes you have to listen to this kind of all-encompassing criticism a few times before it fully develops in your head. But Worm Witchthe problems are evident from the first track. “Fugitive Serpent” is loud, blackened bombast that reveals a completely forgettable opener. Follow-up song “Envenomed” could easily have been called “Fugitive Serpent 2,” focusing on relentless walls of sound, extended voices buried too deep in the mix, and a seeming disinterest in lingering too long on any one passage, moment, or interlude that might hold the listener’s attention. As the album gets longer, these problems become more pronounced. Fourth track “Inner War” offers a little more variety, including an attention-grabbing acoustic intro and a head-nodding black ‘n’ roll riff near the end that helps round out another forgettable pile of black metal rumble. The back halves like “Godmaegen” may offer an engaging, atmospheric interlude between grungy guitar and wheezing bass, “Salamander” may provide the sparse melancholy that Worm Witch with such a great impact on HTDWand the penultimate song “Bright and Poisonous” may be the moment where the band decided to throw many of their good ideas overboard, but none of these brief moments are enough to save the album from what it really is.
And what exactly is that? To this humble reviewer: Worm Witch The self-titled fourth album is less a coherent work than a series of black metal tropes loosely held together by flickering, fleeting moments of inspiration. And much like a creaky discount store Ferris wheel, this junkyard threatens to collapse under the weight of its own hubris. In many ways Worm Witch feels like the product of a band actively evolving before our eyes. While their second album is a mature, memorable piece of genre-bending ferocity that balances mood, atmosphere, and heaviness well, their fourth album is almost the exact opposite, eschewing nuance in favor of regurgitated second-wave worship. Gone is the finely tuned songwriting, replaced instead by a “full throttle, no brakes” approach you’d expect from a group of untested upstarts, not musicians who’ve been in the business for nearly a decade.
After such a long break from my critic duties, this is not the piece I wanted to produce upon my return. I want to like what Worm Witch because I was so excited about what they have done in the past. So maybe this is just a case of unfair expectations. But I don’t think so; what seemed to be a mistake on Wolf Hex seems to be a feature on Worm Witchand that’s the sad reality. The album’s promotional material proclaims that this is “a statement from a band finding themselves,” and while I can’t blame the musicians for trying to evolve their sound, I can certainly fault the result. Wormwichit seems as if I hardly knew you.
Evaluation: 2.0/5.0
DR: 6 | Verified format: 320 kb/s mp3
Label: In-depth lore records
Sites: wormwitch.bandcamp.com | instagram.com/wormwitchofficial
Publications worldwide: July 26, 2024
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