Review by Sam on April 8, 2026.

A pickaxe strikes the ancient dirt above this long forgotten tomb, and the nitrogenic fumes, represented by Phantom Slaughter’s wafting tritonous clean guitar, odiously enter the nostrils. What is this place? Seems like I’ve been here before… And then the coffin lid is ripped open with the jackhammering double bass fill that brackets the phrasing of this opening salvo. The Floridian graveyard sextons known as Worm are here to exhume the sepulchres of their forebears with a foetid brew of unequal parts death metal and doom, a bit of black, and with an unexpected yet welcome cherry on top: some formidable shred.

Rarely have I encountered a band with such a distinct and palpable aura of iniquity. This is the kind of music that, whilst listening to it, causes me to feel like I’m doing something wrong. It’s this unnamed sensation of malfeasance that I experience while blasting Worm that makes them so irresistible to me. And is it just me, or when Phantom Slaughter invokes his cavernous death voice, does he not sound eerily reminiscent of one Sakis Tolis? Think the demo era preceding the release of Thy Mighty Contract. As for the aforementioned shredding that punctuates this opus throughout, I’ve not heard anything this decadent in that regard since Hammerheart. That being said, Nihilistic Manifesto’s virtuoso performance here seems slightly more rooted in music theory than Quorthon’s unabashed (yet unforgettable) wankery. Of course, this is pure speculation on my part because I am neither a musical theorist nor a guitar player. But I am a wanker.

The cavernous vocals are chanted in a way that is utterly captivating. I must have the lyrics for this tome; where in hell can they be found?? When this style is juxtaposed with the rasping black metal screams, it can quite possibly result in sensory overload. It’s too much, too good! The occasional grating BM vocalizations are really the only tie to that genre outside of the obvious visual aesthetics. These swamp dwellers are much more closely related to Disma than to Darkthrone. Phantom also possesses the ability to sing like a Gregorian monk, and while a previous reviewer likened this to medieval plainsong, which I’m not quite sure is applicable, his vocal versatility is stunning.

The first riff of the album that grabs hold and won’t let go is the simple tremolo pattern paired with half-time double bass found on the opening and title track at about two minutes in. This is old school death through and through, reeking of late 80s Obituary and Death. Session drummer L. Dusk is, without question, a death metal guy, and I must say his kicks almost sound too good for what one would expect in this occult death doom barrage. These crisp and punchy bass drums are approaching perfection, an unforeseen treat for sure. From there, we’re treated to the first cosmicly chanted vocal sequence over a driving sixteenth note riff, which is then accentuated with a blood-curdling scream. Delicious. When I first heard this song, I knew I had found just what I had been looking for. One encounters a lot of Disembowelment comparisons when reading Worm reviews, which are no doubt justified, but Foreverglade is to me much more focused, deliberate, and even more mature than the chaos and seeming randomness of Transcendence into the Peripheral.

And now for a word on plagiarism and the accusations thereof regarding Worm. The year is 2026, and numerous heavy metal luminaries from Rob Zombie to Al Cisneros have been quoted as saying it’s all been done. Since 1972. With that in mind, it could be said that all metal is derivative, including Judas Priest, Iron Maiden, Metallica, Napalm Death, and on and on and on. While exploring the catalog of Worm, I have indeed experienced moments of “hey wait a minute, is that Skepticism?” or “hold on man, I know that Chuck has already done that.” My response to these criticisms is simply this: Yeah? So what? All musicians borrow from one another, and this has been done since time immemorial. Where it matters is in execution, and as I have already stated, the music of Worm kinda gives me the heebie jeebies. This means that what they are attempting to do is a success. This record sounds scary because these musicians are absolutely dedicated to the cause.

The opening tolling bells beneath the doom and gloom of Murk Above the Dark Moor continue these themes of ominous foreboding. The bursts of double bass devastation within the crawling tempo are just fucking brutal. The pace picks up just enough to give off a menacing air, and the cavernous death chants return, right on cue. Is that James Murphy making a guest appearance? Nope. And who cares, because Nihilistic Manifesto is beyond an apt pupil, slaying the wraiths and orcs that lurk within this dank labyrinth with his trusty axe. Cloaked in Nightwinds is a lumbering, eleven-minute-plus brute, but you’d never know it because it just flows like the blood of a draining corpse as Phantom Slaughter raves about suffering, sorrow, and sorcery. After a creeping clean break, the death crawl resumes with sinister atmospheric synths, and we are escorted from this necrotic orgy with the sounds of a pan flute. Fitting. Empire of the Necromancers enters the ears with an homage to Gothenburg. Throughout the duration of Foreverglade is a rather palpable feeling of sword and sorcery, and something tells me that Slaughter and his mates are no strangers to the twenty-sided die. They play fast on this song for a bit, and that is really my only complaint about this album. Worm is at their best when their material oozes from the speakers.

The chilling string accompaniment of Subaqueous Funeral casts a pall of melancholy over the Schuldinerian vibes, and again the shredding of Nihilistic Manifesto steals the show. This track is much too short. The guitarists excel in placing evilly clean bits over the rumble of their slow, downtuned distortion, and the closing piece Centuries of Ooze is no exception. Slaughter’s mellifluous and despairing moans set the stage for a rather ingenious 6/8 sequence with intricate kick drum work, total death. These gentlemen don’t just write epics for the sake of making long songs; they are storytellers, and each section of this opus takes the listener on a journey. Through the murk, soaring on the winds of night above the empire, and then plummeting into the depths of the ocean unto the centuries, these fiends of the swamplands have managed to take that which is good from virtually every genre and subgenre of heavy metal and construct a cohesive masterpiece, not just an amalgamation. The glorious closing moments of Foreverglade deliver us from this boggy, crepuscular mire of the dead on the wings of an angel.

Rating: 9.8 out of 10

Review by Norbert on January 7, 2026.

Everyone sees a worm for what it is. It's usually a tiny creature, usually crawling or wriggling on the ground, often a parasite or pest. A creature that universally evokes disgust and revulsion. Unless, of course, it encounters its equals. For example, fans of death metal music, which generally evokes disgust and revulsion in the so-called casual music consumer.

Among all the worms of this world, there's one in particular – the band hailing from Florida, the Mecca of death metal... Worm, whose artistic offering – their third album, Foreverglade, released in October 2021 – should appeal to all genre enthusiasts. Okay, maybe not everyone. Worm is a worm that crawls rather slowly, unhurriedly moving through the muddy territory of death. Lovers of frantic tempos, a barrage of blast beats, and a barrage of furiously biting riffs will likely turn their backs on this creature. In disgust 😉.

Worm, founded in 2012 by the nondescript Fantomslaughter, was initially a one-man black metal project, but over the past decade it has undergone a significant metamorphosis – both stylistically and structurally. The addition of keyboardist Equimanthorn in 2016 coincided with the incorporation of death/doom elements into the band's formula. Worm's second album, Gloomlord, released in 2019, deservedly received high praise – it was 40 minutes of highly engaging doom metal tinged with a touch of black metal darkness, a healthy dose of death, and a hint of the stench of the swamps of their native Florida. Two years later, the band, reinforced by two more musicians – lead guitarist Nihilistic Manifesto and session drummer L. Dusek – returned with their most mature offering to date: Foreverglade.

Death/doom metal is a rather hermetic genre. It would seem that everything there was to say on this topic was presented years ago by My Dying Bride on "Turn Loose The Swans," Anathema on "The Silent Enigma," Katatonia on "Brave Murder Day," Paradise Lost on "Gothic," Amorphis on "Tales From The Thousand Lakes," Cianide on "The Dying Truth," and Asphyx on "The Rack." Yet, year after year, new bands honoring the music of the Old Masters spring up like mushrooms after the rain. What makes this Florida worm stand out from the flood of similar productions that makes me praise it so highly?

A dark, apocalyptic atmosphere, ominous, sepulchral vibrations with dense, fat riffs, plaintive melodies, crushing bass work, and inhuman growling. Yes, all of this is present on Foreverglade, in perfect proportions and superbly produced. But there are also elements that seem out of this world. The band's black metal origins are still resonant, thanks to Fantomslaughter's distinctive screeching vocals, which intertwine perfectly with the low, gut-wrenching sounds typical of death metal. There are black metal fragments, as well as interludes clearly reminiscent of the funeral doom aesthetic of Disembowelment or Evoken. From time to time, the sludgey smell of swampland still manages to emerge from beneath the deadly cover. Eyehategod, anyone? And there's something else. Something that might intrigue, but will likely put some people off – the guitar solos. Most songs on Foreverglade feature at least one solo that could be lifted from the golden age of traditional heavy metal. Sweep-picking on a death/doom album? Yes, yes! (Although I admit I initially had some trouble with it, I got over it 😉).

Phew, quite a mix? It's not in this genre-bending—it could, after all—that the strength of Worm's third album lies. Foreverglade is six brilliantly composed, perfectly arranged, dark, and unsettling tracks with beautiful melodic lines. Six tracks with an overpowering, colossal sound. Six tracks filled with a mysterious atmosphere and vast space, yet so heavy and brutal that you should kneel, all nations. This worm is likable. Maybe even huggable?

Rating: 8.5 out of 10

Review by Alex on October 26, 2021.

I think what Worm did with Gloomlord made it seem near impossible to outdoor, but to hear Foreverglade and think that it’s not a superior album to Gloomlord would be a lie. The growth displayed by this Floridian sect is amazing, they went from the rotten and stinking Evocations Of The Black Marsh to the graven Gloomlord and now a haunting, keyboard, organ and synth romanticized Foreverglade.

While the genesis of Worm's newfound and unexpected immeasurable support came through their sophomore album released through Iron Bonehead, Fantomslaughter for the most part seems like a pretty chill guy. It’s not very usual that artists this sort interact so openly with their supporters, except for a handful such as more recent to memory Trevor of heavy metal band Haunt. Plus coming from a black metal background its more likely than not that obscurity and seclusion surround the member/s. Fantomslaughter on the other hand surprised me when Kens Death Metal Crypt featured him in an interview where Gloomlord, future recordings and just his metal upbringing in the Floridian scene and general metal topics were discussed. Hence the excitement for the new monolith Foreverglade began to really build stir in motion.

Foreverglade pieces-together everything you love about Gloomlord and adds a colorful and more atmospheric, sprawling template to the primary texture of Worm's music. From Disembowelment to Mystifier, Encoffination, Evoken and My Dying Bride (among many others), Foreverglade delicately prepares a poisonous yet tasty, picturesque embodiment of their phantasmic portrait on their latest funeral/death/black/doom practice.

The foggy, crepuscular opening of title track 'Foreverglade' which also introduces the listener to Worm's haunting sound through the adaptation of keyboards and synth, eloquently sets up the record and wastes no time establishing the primary audial aesthetic of Foreverglade. Onwards, Worm in an even more emboldened demonstration sprinkle beautiful particles across the album with pieces such as the thunderous and epic, yet haunting 'Cloaked In Nightwinds', 'Empire Of The Necromancers' and 'Centuries Of Ooze' that fetch the bulk of the weight needed for developing and progressing the record into a fully shrouded, dimly lit atmosphere, thus being the standout tracks for me. Yet in surprising opposites of Foreverglade's bleak, barren and desolate landscape, you'd discover melodic, keyboard-driven passages that shape the ambience into dreamy auroras nearly sheathing the dense and dark blossoming.

Not abandoning their black metal roots, Worm seamlessly sew into Foreverglade's fabric sharp snarls and shouts that peak on the indelible 'Empire Of The Necromancers' via that build and burst into an incandescent crescendo towards the closing moments. These vocals are contrasted by cavernous growls that feed off hulking power-chords which are satisfying to absorb as they provide a meaty shell to the emote and piercing guitar solos. And about the riffs and solos on Foreverglade, they're like fireflies trapped in a dark pit emitting light, or some sort of ominous glimmer just beneath the froth settling atop a stagnant body of water. You'd hear this truly manifest and take a hold on the centerpiece of Foreverglade, 'Centuries Of Ooze', as Worm's strengths are collected and magnified from the beginning of that song and last all the way to the ceremonial closing that take a plunge into depression via the crestfallen enochian chants almost dragging you into the forbidden territory of Worship.

In addition to Equimanthorn and Fantomslaughter, it appears 2 session musicians under the guises of L.Dusk and Nihilistic Manifesto with the former handling drums and the latter executing addition guitar duties. Compiled with the soothing and sublime synth compositions of Equimanthorn and Fantomslaughter's vocals, guitars, synth, and bass, Foreverglade has proven to be yet another much needed shakeup in the metal underground. Foreverglade is a crushing and sullen yet poignant and saccharine entry in the Worm swamp.

Rating: 10 out of 10