Album Review: Worm - Gloomlord
Reviewed by Jacob Schwar
Originally released back in 2020, a year that in retrospect saw much death, disease and gloom, the aptly titled Gloomlord by Floridian Funeral Doomers WORM is receiving a well-deserved reissue, with remastering duties being completed by no other than Greg Chandler of Esoteric here in the UK at Priory Recording Studios. Gloomlord is the second album released by the group and in itself was quite a stylistic leap from their debut bringing their take on funeral doom to wider attention and even amassing a cult following of sorts which has led to it being much in demand for a reissue and in turn more easily available to the masses.
Gloomlord opens with the tack ‘Putrefying Swamp Mists at Dusk’ in which we are introduced to the unsettling yet grandiose funeral doom enclosed within this album. Already I was noticing some improvement in quality especially with vocals which seemed more pronounced in the mix, the entire album for that matter sounds more polished with certain instruments and sound effects being more identifiable amongst the sonic calamity of WORM’s sound. The following track is titled ‘Rotting Spheres Of Sentient Blackness’ and is a real death doom chugger with a nice bit of ‘cosmic’ thrown in, we hear some fantastically eerie guitar work in the background which consists of a few notes often repeated in a shoegaze-like style which adds so much emotion and is very prevalent throughout Gloomlord.
Next up is ‘Apparitions Of Gloom’ without doubt my favourite song on this album, it’s riffage and rhythm is full of emotion and truly is beautiful in a fiercely unique doom-esque way which reminds me of material from early Forgotten Tomb. After this is ‘Melting In The Necrosphere’ which is a more fast-paced number that is oddly uplifting, being on an album shrouded in gloom, with its brutal chugging guitars and sections that are all out old school death metal. This song also has the best instrumentation of the album as the listener is treated to a marvellously chaotic guitar solo which will instil visions of melting flesh and bodily ooze quickly ending with a short yet beautiful instrumental passage of the calm after a truly terrifying storm. Closing the album is the track titled ‘Abysmal Dimensions’ and is a fine way to end this colossus. The song contains a bit of everything that makes WORM such a powerhouse within the genre from crushing riffs, eerie guitars, expressive melodies and most importantly that terrifying atmosphere which exists throughout all their discography.
At the end of the day, the new reissue of Gloomlord sounds fantastic whether it needed a remaster or not isn’t for me to say, considering my ears have become so accustomed to the original. However its reassuring to know that Gloomlord will soon be more easily available physically, with a new vinyl edition that’ll include a huge 24x36 poster insert which my vinyl collecting self finds most agreeable and worth hunting for. WORM have established themselves firmly in the modern funeral doom genre as a band to keep an eye on, the much in demand reissue of this album is testament to their growing presence and I highly recommend diving into the rest of their discography for some of the finest funeral doom you’ll ever hear. WORM is recommended for fans of Disembowelment, Winter, Goatlord, Unholy, Esoteric, Evoken, Slimelord, Atramentus and Burial.
