Review by Sam on April 17, 2026.

I’m not sure I could describe this record more efficiently or add anything new to the conversation that hasn’t already been said, with deadly aplomb, in the insanely eloquent first review for Gloomlord that was written by GrizzlyButts. Seriously, if you’d like to know how to properly review a heavy metal album, stop reading this bullshit, click the “view all reviews for – Gloomlord” link above, scroll to the bottom of the page, and read that right now. Here’s hoping that at this point in Worm’s career, they need no introduction from the likes of me as they are about to embark on a full U.S. tour in support of their current release, Necropalace.

Gloomlord finds Worm in a vastly different habitat from that in which they currently dwell. With this work, they remain sonically in the swamp in which they were originally spawned. It would seem that mastermind Phantom Slaughter has a sizable hard-on for shredding guitarists if you’ve listened to any of their last four releases. Lead guitar duties are here performed by one Nihilistic Manifesto, and I gotta tell you, I much prefer his more natural, less in your face style than that of the current guy, which is multi-instrumentalist, producer, recording engineer, and guitar teacher Philippe Tougas. A cool thing about Gloomlord, Foreverglade, and Bluenothing, which I consider to be a trilogy of greatness by Worm, is that each album first enters the ears with a creepy and foreboding clean guitar lick. The similarities to Sabbath (the title song) in each of these respective clean intros are striking, and I’m a bit shocked at how few previous reviewers have pointed this out.

As far as contemporary metal bands go, I listen to very few, but the ones that I do enjoy could be described as “retro” or even ancestor worship, such as Cryptworm, Undergang, and the here discussed Worm. Comparisons to bands of old that Worm has accrued in their fourteen-year existence are myriad and by no means unfounded. The one that seems to crop up most often is Australia’s overrated Disembowelment, a rather mythical formation that released one full-length and ceased to exist after a mere four years. Worm has more than tripled that lifespan and now has four LPs, a kickass EP, and a split, as well as a couple of demos from the early days when it was pretty much a one-man project.

It has been stated in the press that Phantom Slaughter started this project because he was inspired by the Fenriz documentary Until the Light Takes Us, and Worm’s origins are most definitely rooted in the black. I’ve only listened to the debut, Evocation of the Black Marsh, a few times because, goddamn, that shit is rough, and I had to force myself to do it out of respect to the artist. What I did glean from that handful of forced listens is that the sound that Slaughter initially aimed for was, without question, the vaunted necro sound. Even when I first started listening to Gloomlord, I thought it was no better than demo quality, with somehow expertly recorded kick drums. The rhythm guitar is murky and not loud enough in the mix, and there just seems to be separation between the drums and guitar rather than cohesion. However, after getting to know the album very well over the last month or so, the low-fi and quirky production does lend an element of allure to this work. With the direction that Worm currently appears to be headed in, I can definitely say I prefer the seemingly DIY texture of Gloomlord to the ultra modern and guitarded production afforded to Necropalace.

So let’s talk about the music contained on Gloomlord. From the opening notes, sensations of dread and terror are conjured by the musicians, and these feelings are unrelenting throughout. Putrefying Swamp Mists at Dusk could safely be described as the essence of blackened death/doom. The tempo is crawling, the vocals cavernous and soaked in hellish reverb, and the shoddy production really gives off black metal or necro vibes. At 3:15, when Slaughter sounds a despairing wail in his clean singing voice, it truly creates an atmosphere of the abyss. And that abyss is indeed bottomless. The low, deathlike, reverberating vocals call to mind iconic titans of the underground such as Havohej or early Rotting Christ. Rotting Spheres of Sentient Darkness has this weird drum part where it seems like the drummer is struggling to play a two-handed hi-hat beat that suddenly switches to blazingly precise double bass 32nds. It’s odd because it sounds like a non-drummer hands the sticks off mid-beat to a pro, but it’s amateurish elements such as this that contribute to the aforementioned charm of the recording. Rotting Spheres brings the blackened vocal stylings to the foreground over a fearsome tremolo riff paired with spry double bass. The otherworldly and macabre synthesizers that Slaughter plays so proficiently shine here, giving the piece a slimy sheen that oozes morbidity.

This morbid atmosphere of necro sound continues on Apparitions of Gloom, and a couple of minutes into this track, we have some poignantly moving lead guitar above the blackened ravings of Phantom Slaughter. Again, the soloing style of Nihilistic Manifesto is rooted in meaningful artistic value, not the blatant wankery of the current lead man. The song closes out with some truly air guitar-worthy and emotive shred played by this so-called Nihilist. Melting in the Necrosphere has a menacing and driving feel to it with its tremolo and double bass warfare, which is complemented with some very Quorthon-esque lead work. This is a mostly well-written song that communicates this disease-ridden feeling Worm cultivates in their musty garden of doom that would only continue to improve on the masterful Foreverglade. However, at the end of this track, a glaring, uncalled-for, and frankly bizarre Opeth tribute pops up. The drums and distorted guitar drop out, and what happens sounds basically identical to one of the clean interlude tracks found on either Blackwater Park or Deliverance. I think one of those is called Patterns in the Ivy? I’m going to hypothesize that maybe Slaughter had just discovered the oft-maligned Swedes between the release of Evocation of Black Marsh and the recording process of Gloomlord. Maybe Nihilistic Manifesto was a closeted fan of Toki Wartooth and snuck this shit on there without notifying the boss. Now, when I first heard those two Opeth albums some twenty years ago, my mind was blown, my face was melted, and I declared them the heaviest band on the planet or in the history of mankind, and yada yada because wow! 12-minute songs with brutal death growls AND angelic clean singing?? Who’d have thunk of it? My fascination with that band was brief, though, because of the jarring and horrifyingly NON-metal course they took after Ghost Reveries, which in and of itself was only lukewarm in terms of being “true”. All I’m saying is be forewarned, because if you’re sitting there enjoying Gloomlord for the first time, possibly stoned or in an otherwise relaxed state, look out because this bit will harsh your mellow with the mellow reference to one Mikael Åkerfeldt.

Gloomlord ends with the epic beast entitled Abysmal Dimensions, and its opening moments will make you feel like you’re falling, down, down, into the fathomless pit with its dreamlike, clean-picked lead guitar over the rumble of the sludgy downtuned overdrive. This opens up nicely for what I can only describe as The Riff of the album. It’s a stomping 4/4 beat beneath a juicy and damnably simple guitar that directly channels Morbid Tales or To Mega Therion, and it fucking destroys worlds. Some metalheads seem to have a problem with modern bands that openly revere their forebears or wear their ancient influences on their sleeves. Not me. It’s because of this riff that the weird and off-putting Opeth thing from the previous track is completely absolved of its sin. From there, Slaughter’s glorious, clean singing Gregorian monk voice is briefly summoned, which breaches the gates of hell to release the wrath of the eldritch wraith known as The Night Ripper. Behold! And beware. Then, after a bit of black metal mayhem complete with raging blast beats, Worm exits stage left on the strength of the grotesque and dismal blackened doom that would earn them much renown in the coming years.

Rating: 8.5 out of 10

Review by Alex on January 14, 2020.

It comes as a disservice Worm is branched under black metal; personally, after my time with Gloomlord it could not be a more narrow characterization of the band and their music. Krypts, Gorement, Spectral Voice, Timeghoul, Celestial Grave, Macabra, Wooden Stake, Perverted Ceremony, Incantation, Mortuary Drape, Disharmony, and 80s guitar solos share the infinite space with Worm on Gloomlord.

Black/death/doom for grownups only; you'll need to have heard many interstellar curses before getting even a mile within the radiation of this record. Not for a beginner’s ears and is by no measure an introductory album of any sort. Gloomlord is the woven fragments critical to the identities of extreme metal genres. It’s no secret the members in Worm have a love for death/doom metal (being from USA, Florida specifically), but they also indulge in war metal, black metal and doom metal, thus given, they went ahead and established a multidimensional sphere to channel their appreciation for the different forms of extremity, but more so, fetch into existence their dismal visions. Reverberating death/black metal snarls and growls lunge at you predatorily; super-terrestrial guitar licks and drumming combinations with a pinch of melodicism are waved-around like wand in hand, at any given moment shooting sorcerian beams that’d evaporate all sentience.

Dimensions ahead of the institutionalized, prosaic-echoes of black metal, ‘Putrefying Swamp Mists at Dusk’ maneuvers shackleless the marsh necropolis; its footprints traced to many a predecessor and current lifeforms of the morass, yet not the creature’s sole identity. Magnetized to the beauty of its own reflection this track displays a confidence excessive for an intro, setting the bar higher than assumed but would pale in comparison to those soon to be unveiled in the clearing mist. ‘Rotting Spheres of Sentient Black’ would have you believe Worm has been playing this sort of material for years, in strong opposition to coercion, the flux here is sublime with every element falling into place without trouble or agitation. A frequenting occurrence on Gloomlord this, implying the amount of thought preceding the arrangement of the music. If you took a step away from microscopic examination, you’d still find an overall semblance courtesy of rhythmically logical transitions, reinstating how pertinently fastened into position all segments of the music are.

I’d bet just from the way ‘Apparitions of Gloom’ opens you could have never surmised the serene and dreamlike guitar work at the climaxing collective of motions. The objective of the work is peaked for a period like a storm at its most critical phase, ‘Apparitions of Gloom’ elevates to divinity, a juncture of glory. ‘Abysmal Dimensions’ sees the album off to a close in exclamatory demeanor, still no defections raise to surface on the record, all that had been put into place remains securely seated and undisturbed. The dip into slightly melancholic terrain is birthed following the spacy torrent of ‘Melting in the Necrosphere’; ‘Apparitions of Gloom’ shows Worm can manage and conduct the recording’s fluctuating temperance, a thing of spectacle. The songs don't appear conditioned to appease any particular style, instead juggled about but with care to not fumble.

Not having the time to acquaint oneself with Worm’s prior record, Evocation of the Black Marsh, I’d feel as if an opportunity to hear how the band has progressed since its release in 2017 and how it stacks up against the current effort is critical to Gloomlord. I understand the band was originally a solo undertaking that being of front man Fantomslaughter; however, with this record a new member Equimanthorn, has aligned himself with the visions of the main-man. Hence I have found black metal projects to garner a greater deal of success when less hands are involved in the crafting process, and this effect is projected on Gloomlord.

Plutonian Miseries Ignited
• 'Apparitions of Gloom'
• 'Rotting Spheres of Sentient Black'
• 'Abysmal Dimensions' 

Rating: 10 out of 10