WORMED: Metaportal

WORMED
Metaportal

SEASON OF MIST

8/10

BRUTAL TECH SCI-FI DEATH: Spanish technical death has always been the order of the day for Wormed, as the band takes the listener through both outer space and inner soul during its cosmic audio journeys. This excellent EP is more or less what the listener is hoping to get. “Cryptoubiquity” grinds and blasts through the excellent performance of new drummer V-Kazar (replacing G-Calero, who died last year). Even when the riffs are open and spacious, they’re always jarring and labyrinthine, the band using discordant melodies in a way that brings to mind Gorguts or Discordance Axis, but the music sounds nothing like either band, somehow managing to navigate brutal death and tech death but adding in tons of atmosphere, passion, and vibe.

Like Origin gone slam, Wormed is able to be concise while also sprawling, with songs like the killer, dense closer “E-Xystem://CE,” which is huge, massive but not oppressive, and manic and technical but not just blind wankery—plus the ending is both catchy and legitimately scary. Is what happens at the very end here okay for ears and speakers? It’s a sweet spot Wormed has always explored, and they do it extremely well in these 17 minutes. Metaportal is a perfect summation of everything that makes this band so great, and it’s no surprise that a Wormed EP is almost more enjoyable than a Wormed full-length. While they don’t have quite as much time to spread their wings, they have just enough space to explore, annihilate, and leave the listener wanting more. ~ Greg Pratt