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WORM
Necropalace

Century Media (2026)
Rating: 9/10

The ever evolving Worm has shifted from its blackened death-doom style to a 90s second wave of black metal worship with this, the North American band’s fourth full-length trip. With cover art that nods towards Necromantia’s 1993 classic, Crossing The Fiery Path, Worm circa 2026 takes inspiration from Dimmu Borgir, Cradle Of Filth, classic Darkthrone, Emperor, Devil Master and the lesser known Croatian act Castrum.

Draped in black cloaks and creeping through walls of fog, the duo of Phantom Slaughter and Wroth Septentrion opts for a setting daubed in vampyric eeriness and Gothic smog. The band logo is more ornate now, staring back at the listener like a set of wrought iron castle gates.

Apart from the intro, all the songs are lengthy, the twosome saving the best until last with the emphatic 14 minute ‘Witchmoon: The Infernal Masquerade’. If you’ve seen the video then you’ll know exactly what the current Worm is all about as their primitive and thorny soundtrack laces a video which looks like an unseen segment of a Jean Rollin movie. All shock Goth and satanic, ‘Witchmoon: The Infernal Masquerade’ somehow drafts in the axe skills of Marty Friedman (ex-Megadeth), whose work spirals through the swirling mist with majestic aplomb.

The Dimmu Borgir vibe is strong here as the tag team injects some symphonic slickness to their world of cloak and dagger swagger. Sure, the whole ethos is so far removed from Worm’s previous trio of records, and I see Necropalace as an outing that will divide the fan base, but this is a record that showcases the versatility of the band.

Okay, this is hardly progressive as it relies so heavily on familiar black metal threading, but there’s grandiosity, a mystical majesty as the title cut slithers in with a nefarious scowling. It’s here in stages that Worm reaches into its doomier back catalogue, embracing such grimness, but streaking it with a theatrical and orchestral melodic black metal bluster. The vocals are ghoulish sneers, the jabs of symphonic keys wash over the 90s vibe of the scathing guitar sound. Is that a bit of Limbonic Art I hear? Certainly more Dimmu Borgir is evident alongside an injection of Satyricon.

‘Blackheart’ is littered with impeccable solo work as again this expansive composition unravels like some mid-to-late 90s black metal throwback as drenched in spectral atmosphere it wanders to an era of danger and wickedness beneath corpse paint. The ten-minute ‘Halls Of Weeping’ sprinkles the foggy layers with those keyboard tinkles as the rush of cold, mouldy air gives way to necrotic doom slurry. If ever there was a band that requires a full line-up it’s Worm, because as a live show such a record would be quite a staggering experience as the percussion tumbles like a black waterfall over the smothering riffs of permafrost.

The 12 minute ‘Dragon Dreams’ trickles with suspense, ascending from its chilly cove as a spiralling black pillar of choking smoke. Meanwhile, more traditional passages are exhibited with ‘The Night Has Fangs’ with further virtuoso soloing providing the icing on an already icy cake. It’s all quintessential black metal of necromantial horror. The way Worm combines doses of shred with straight up metal, black metal and symphonic metal is sublime, but I’ve already heard the murmurs of discontent among the cosmic doom “fans” that are refusing to accept the band’s tactical shifts.

Matched by its album sleeve art, Necropalace is a stunning piece of music from a band eager to move on, even if that means tapping into a bygone time. Both barbaric and bombastic, Necropalace is not the album many wanted, but it’s the album many of us needed; an extraordinary yet familiar slice of phantasmal fuckery for graveyard dwellers and midnight vampires everywhere.

Neil Arnold

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