INTERVIEW WITH PHLEGETON BY STEPHANIE JENSEN
Sci-fi tech death legends Wormed have released their newest album, Omegon, the next in the Krighsu saga. Unlike past albums, Omegon is the darkest album Wormed has released. There’s a reason why. With the death of drummer G-Calero and the addition of drummer V-Kazar and guitarist D-Kazar, Omegon sounds like you’re getting pulled down a black hole, but so much of Wormed still remains the same. The band holds onto their sci-fi roots and vocalist Phlegeton still graces us with his brutal growls. Phlegeton discusses the next chapter in the Krighsu saga, the recording process for Omegon, and the contributions from all members.
With Omegon, you’re continuing the story of Krighsu. Explain this saga of the story.
A cosmic substance that defies mortal reach—amid ancient conflicts, two civilizations vie for its boundless power, blurring the lines of reality. From the shadows emerges Krighsu, a timeline hacker sent by the Chryms, entangled in the manipulation of cosmic forces. In surreal realms, he fights to unlock the mysteries of Omegon, where truths conflict and dimensions warp. In its depths resides ultimate power, but the price is high, a fleeting illusion of reality itself.
“OUR INFLUENCES HAVE EVOLVED OVER TIME, AND THIS MIGHT BE THE DARKEST ALBUM FROM WORMED.”
Omegon sounds darker and more atmospheric than past albums. What are your thoughts on this?
Our influences have evolved over time, and this might be the darkest album from Wormed. We didn’t have a very predefined idea for this album, it came about naturally. In fact, it’s the album with the most tracks from V-Kazar, so that might be the most noticeable aspect. It has some very twisted and peculiar tracks since V-Kazar has a very advanced concept for composing in Wormed and often overwhelms us with his crazy ideas. We have to restrain him a bit because if we let him have free rein, the album would have become much more complicated and I don’t think we would have been able to play it live. We are getting older and have to compose tracks that we are capable of performing live.
What was your experience working with BlackStorm Studios, Simon Da Silva, and Colin Marston?
Working with Ekaitz Garmendia of BlackStorm is always a pleasure. He’s a very professional guy who keeps a smile on his face even after hours of recording. We went to him because, in addition to having a great studio, he has a house where we can all stay and focus on the album for days. This way, we work much better and more focused on the task. He did a great job with recording and miking. We drove him crazy with the tracks we brought because we had barely rehearsed them all together since we live far from each other, and it was tough to record them well. Ekaitz was very patient with us and we appreciated it a lot. I have no words for the impeccable work he does and the good vibes he brings.
With Simon Da Silva, we did the editing, but it was a tough job because we didn’t want it to sound quantized and wanted an organic sound, especially for the drums. He did a spectacular job, maintaining the essence of the recording as it was, polishing everything nicely before sending it to Marston.
We had worked with Marston on a re-mastering of Planisphaerium and knew he would be the ideal guy for the job. We wanted a natural sound, going back a bit to the roots, as we felt the recent works sounded perhaps too inorganic and robotic. Colin understood us perfectly, and we enjoyed the process a lot even though it was very complicated to make him understand exactly what we wanted for each track and the overall sound of the mix we were looking for. It was a long process, with many revisions. Working remotely is complicated, but we managed to resolve it little by little with a lot of patience on both sides until we got the result we were looking for. I think the overall sound we achieved with this team of professional and dedicated people was a success.
“AFTER THE PASSING OF OUR GREAT FRIEND AND DRUMMER, G-CALERO, OUR DRIVE COLLAPSED, AND IT WAS VERY DIFFICULT TO START AGAIN WITHOUT HIM.”
You released the full-length Krighsu in 2016, your EP Metaportal in 2019, and Omegon this year. Why did you release an EP between the Krighsu saga albums?
After the passing of our great friend and drummer, G-Calero, our drive collapsed, and it was very difficult to start again without him. We had a couple of songs half-composed, and we thought that instead of making our fans wait much longer, we decided to release an EP to whet their appetite and make the wait not so long. Our albums are very difficult to write, and it always takes us several years to have the next material ready. Also, in some way, it was the introduction of our new drummer V-Kazar.
What was it like working with the new members for this full-length?
Now we have V-Kazar and D-Kazar, blood brothers, on guitar and drums. We wanted to sound very powerful again with two guitars live, so we recruited D-Kazar. They are two very young guys with a lot of enthusiasm to work in the band and always have fresh ideas, besides being great guys. We all worked very hard on Omegon, and they contributed a lot to the new album, not only in terms of composition as I mentioned earlier, but also when it came to writing tablatures, preparing demos, and making everything flow much better. They were key to being able to carry out this new album.
“I HAVE ALWAYS HAD A VERY DEFINED IDEA OF WHAT WORMED IS AND ITS IMAGE, AS WELL AS ITS THEME.”
You design all the artwork for the band. What is your approach when creating the visuals?
I have always had a very defined idea of what Wormed is and its image, as well as its theme. In this case, I wanted to represent the two parallel realities I talk about on the album, and I tried to capture that with two very advanced cyborgs facing each other. It took me more than a year to finalize this cover. I did many tests until I reached this result. My approach in Wormed is basically always the same. I try to develop images in a very futuristic, high-tech science fiction style that harmonizes with the band’s concept and the album itself. Wormed has a very marked techno-dark-futuristic aura, and I try to do something different while maintaining the style on each album. Depending on the concept, I look for one style or another, but without deviating too much from the identity that characterizes us.
Like a lot of brutal death metal bands, your death growls are cavernous and nasty, but you also change things up with glitchy, pixelated vocal effects. How do you decide on when to stay brutal and when to experiment?
Thank you, that’s a compliment. The decision is often demanded by the song itself and generally appears in just the right place. For the more brutal vocal parts, I let myself be carried away by the pressure and dynamics of the song, and for the narrated vocal parts, it depends on the section. I like to narrate some phrases to place the listener in a more futuristic/experimental plane where there are voices that relate parts of the lyrics to unify the concept and make it more enjoyable. I think the surprise factor of the spoken voice in these songs makes them more dynamic and not so monotonous.
