Monday, September 23, 2013

Wormlust - The Feral Wisdom

'Black Metal Ambrosia'

Wormlust - The Feral Wisdom

This Icelandic band was founded by H.V Lyngdal in 2003 under the moniker of Wolfheart and joined by drummer Bjarni Einarsson on The Feral Wisdom. Lyngdal changed Wolfheart into Wormlust in 2006 with some demos the following years, one of them was the astonishing Seven Paths demo, he finally released The Feral Wisdom in mid 2013.

Wormlust are a very strange band to describe. Let us say, an ethereal hybrid of a psychedelic and atmospheric style of black metal. And it really intensifies the ambiance of the album. Above all, the word I would use to describe Wormlust best is mesmerizing. An almost murmuring, spacey and vociferous sound production enchants the listener to their magnificent and grand-epic style of the first track Sex Augu, Tólf Stjörnur. Although it starts with an ambient intro, the feral and noisy beast that is Wormlust is unleashed with an absolutely destroying sound that left me with my jaw dropping down to the floor. The vehement and dissonant sounds continued to echo in my room leaving my hopes for enlightenment all but abolished. Halfway through the track, the sound gets even more magnificent with the use of mid-tempo beats and synthesizer to its eminent sound. I was also really surprised how insame the bass sounds sometimes around the 6:30 minute mark. A scarce number of melodic leads are also incorporated into this track, the track ends with two minutes of ambient experimentation.

And now for an abrupt turn of events, Wormlust lies their grand-epic style aside once more as we are allowed to indulge in a very mirky and melodic touch at the start of Djöflasýra. The riffs in this song are very hypnotic, and the mid-tempo moments of this song works great to finish the listeners ascend into the ethereal skies. The vehement sounds are still delivered, but this song have somewhat a lesser aggressive approach than the first track, but that has given way for even more soaring ambiance around 3 minutes in. The song then builts itself up in a crawling pace, resuming at the seven minute mark what resembles the chaotic and psychotic form Sex Auga, Tólf Stjörnur had. In contrast, this song ends on a high note as the first ended in with ambient music.

While the first half of the album was a schizophrenic frenzy of unwordly music, the second half of The Feral Wisdom is quite different. It begins with the track, Á Altari Meistarans makes this album do a full collision into psychedelic territory. The track evolves with a long slowness, and feels a little droning. Although certainly different, the end of this song fits perfectly into the next, Iður Úti. There was a certain tension to this track, I felt like something was going to happen. And it did, almost three minutes in, the music becomes what you recognize from the two first songs, but before you know it... it ends. Developing the track once more with silent, eerie sounds. The last four minutes, which the band puts all their energi into, go back the maniacal black metal from before. Even though I think this song is weirdly built, it sounds very natural, it is also completely nuts at the same time.

The only downside that I had with this record was the transition between the two halves of the it. They are outright strange. But above all else, the album is really well put together and heavy, so heavy it is brain sickening in fact, but in a good way. For those of you, who are looking for black metal with complexity, depth and absolute insanity, then this is for you. This is a wandering to the outlying empty spaces of our galaxy, and then back. This album is a journey so dark it will drive you to madness and left craving for more.

Rating:
9.7

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