ALBUM REVIEW
WORMWOOD - Å
Melodic, dark, exploratory.
WORMWOOD, formed in Stockholm in 2014, have been expanding the hard core of black metal with melodic layers, folk textures, progressive passages, and dark rock influences. Moving away from the more direct black metal approach of their early years, the band now presents a new stage in this musical evolution with "Å", following four studio albums. This two-track EP offers a concise yet intense snapshot of how the band balances aggression and melody, darkness and light, and tradition and experimentation.
Despite its short runtime, the EP compresses the expansion of the band's compositional approach into two lengthy tracks. Spanning roughly 16 minutes, these two songs continue WORMWOOD's progression from the more straightforward black metal of their early years toward a more layered sound incorporating melodic, progressive, and occasional folk influences. Yet the real question at the heart of "Å" is not simply whether the band can stretch the boundaries of the genre, but how naturally it can bring melodic grandeur and aggressive riffing together within the same composition—and why that approach does not work equally well across both tracks.
The EP's clear standout, 'Yra | Extas', is the composition that best illustrates where WORMWOOD stand today. The track establishes a hard-edged black metal foundation through warm, prominent melodic guitar lines set against frigid blast beats, but rather than sustaining that intensity throughout, the band opens the arrangement up to hard rock-oriented grooves, calmer progressive passages, and folk-tinged melodic details. What is particularly striking is that none of these elements feels like an afterthought or decorative addition. As the rhythmic structure changes, so does the role of the guitars; the bass gains greater prominence, and the song recalls its own motifs to create new points of ascent.
The broader, more atmospheric use of the guitars in the quieter sections, combined with the clearly audible bass, allows the track to breathe without ever fully abandoning its black metal aggression. WORMWOOD employs progressive elements here not as a display of technical virtuosity, but through its approach to arrangement. The melodic ideas established early on return later in the track and are gradually expanded into a more epic form, keeping its nine-minute runtime purposeful. The extended epic melody toward the end brings the band's melodic black metal side directly to the forefront, while its contrast with the earlier aggressive sections enhances its impact. The track's turn toward a hopeful and bright conclusion therefore does not create an artificial sense of optimism; instead, it functions as a resolution developed from within the darkness of its tonal palette.
At this point, WORMWOOD's position within contemporary melodic black metal also becomes clearer. Rather than placing atmospheric and cinematic expansion directly at the center of the genre framework, the band makes these elements part of the development of its riffs. The folk touches likewise do not become the sole defining feature of the track. Its backbone remains rooted in black metal riffs, blast beats, and strong melodic motifs. Consequently, 'Yra | Extas' is less an experiment that pushes the genre's boundaries than a controlled expansion of the existing melodic black metal vocabulary through progressive arrangements and shifting dynamic levels.
'Purposeless Geometry', meanwhile, employs the same compositional potential through more debatable choices. The dual-guitar melodies in the opening section and its evocation of a dark metal/post-punk aesthetic rooted in the 1990s suggest that WORMWOOD are combining melodic dark metal codes from earlier eras with their contemporary sound. The quieter passage that follows temporarily shifts the track toward progressive rock, removing its center of gravity in terms of intensity; the return of dark growls and screams then places that calmness back within an extreme metal context. Structurally, there is no shortage of material here either.
The problem is that some of these ideas have a more contentious relationship with the rest of the track. In particular, the clean vocal/melodic motif built around the 'la la' refrain over the melodic guitars creates a deliberate contrast with the band's established black metal vocal approach. At the same time, it produces a distinct aesthetic friction with the song's harsher guitar textures and dark atmosphere. The passage can therefore be read either as a bold break that strengthens the track's character or as an unnecessary layer added to an already compelling melodic framework. The issue is not that the idea is unconventional; it is whether that idea actually transforms the song's underlying riff and atmospheric logic.
This duality also reveals the central tension running through "Å". Rather than simply placing elements drawn from different genres side by side, WORMWOOD attempts to connect them within the same long-form structures. 'Yra | Extas' executes this approach with an almost seamless flow, while 'Purposeless Geometry' takes greater risks, though some of those risks fail to connect with the music's central aesthetic line with the same degree of conviction. And that is precisely what makes it interesting: the EP's most contentious element is also the clearest manifestation of the band's desire to expand its boundaries.
The production approach supports this expansion. A clean, detailed mix allows the guitar melodies, bass, and quieter atmospheric layers to remain audible without smothering one another. At the same time, the sound does not completely smooth away the raw side of extreme metal; the blast beats and harsher vocal passages remain the compositional center of gravity. In this way, "Å" moves toward modern, polished production standards while retaining the brute force embedded in WORMWOOD's music. That balance is considerably more successful on 'Yra | Extas'.
The EP's two-track format makes all of these choices more apparent. The fact that one track is exceptionally strong while the other is markedly divisive over a runtime of roughly 16 minutes keeps "Å" from being an average release, but it also magnifies its consistency problem. An idea that might have remained a secondary element on a longer album here occupies half of the entire release. The cost of WORMWOOD's experimental approach therefore becomes unmistakable: rather than retreating into a safer melodic black metal formula, the band chooses to expand its own vocabulary, but not every expansion finds an equally convincing compositional counterpart.
"Å" is therefore a small but revealing waypoint in WORMWOOD's development. 'Yra | Extas' demonstrates how the aggressive riffs of melodic black metal can be expanded through progressive arrangements, folk textures, and broader dynamics, while 'Purposeless Geometry' exposes the friction that can emerge when the band pushes against its aesthetic boundaries. The EP's value lies not merely in its well-crafted melodies, but in WORMWOOD's willingness to test which ideas actually function within the established conventions of the genre rather than simply repeating them. The most convincing results of this approach have yet to spread evenly across both tracks, but that pursuit is precisely what continues to define the band's identity within contemporary extreme metal.
https://wormwood-official.bandcamp.com/