Album title: Ghostlands - Wounds From A Bleeding Earth
Release date: 9 March 2017
Label: Non Serviam Records
Tracklist:
01. Gjallarhornet
02. The Universe Is Dying
03. Under Hennes Vingslag
04. Godless Serenade
05. Oceans
06. Silverdimmans Återsken
07. Tidh ok Ödhe
08. Beneath Ravens And Bones
09. The Windmill
10. What We Lost In The Mist
11. The Boneless One
12. To Worship
Wormwood spawned early in 2014, already then with a sheer goal and strong vision of their future. The band was founded by guitarist Rydsheim and bass player Borka (both ex-Åskfödd), the two joined forces with the drummer Johtun. After establishing down the main ideas for the band they recruited singer Nine who had the ferociousness they were looking for. Guitarist Nox later on completed the line-up of Wowmwood. Together they were hiding in the underground and slowly crafting the sound that they were going to represent as Wormwood in the coming future. Wormwood's music is a mix of atmospheric and grim black metal with hints of ancient Scandinavian melodies. They released their first EP named The Void - Stories From The Whispering Well, followed by short tour and strong support of their EP. Soon after that they started working on material for what would be the bands debut album making its way into 2017, and so in early 2016 Ghostlands - Wounds From A Bleeding Earth was ready, mixed and mastered by Sverker Widegren of Diabolical fame.
The album is inspired by the Scandinavian north, the vast and mystical space and old folklore, and this led to the unique sound of Wormwood. Ghostlands - Wounds From A Bleeding Earth is as "grimm" as its beautiful, a truly majestic album that clearly shows that Sweden is the land of many beautiful things, just to name few... Zornheym, Hyperion among many other great names and now Wormwood are to be added to the list of Swedish new gods.
Many might describe Wormwood's music as folk/black metal, despite very melodic it has that raw edge and brutallity you need from black metal, but enough melodies to ensure you won't get bored. Most of the songs doesn't follow a special pattern and makes it less of a repetitive album, something that is quite common in black metal, as it can be easy to get lost in a wall of blast beats, but Wormwood shows no tendences to follow the stereotype, with clear vision and goals in sight, they make use of all kinds of various instruments and really brings out that nice mixture of folk black metal you've only heard before in Finland. Raise your glass for Wormwood because the overall soundscape of the album is very pleasent, almost a bit ambiental at certain parts.
The guitar work is perfectly blended with nice orchestration in the background and it simply lifts the whole album to a new level. While many bands tend to live on the keys, Wormwood utilizes them in a very good way and still manages to deliver in front those sharp black metal riffs we all love. Despite Wormwood being fairly new to the eyes of the world the members sure are no strangers to composing great music, its hard to put to words exactly what one feels, but it's just one of those records that pretty much speaks for itself and everyone should be able to get their own opinion from this melodic epic album. Despite being almost flawless one cannot help but not missing the faster stuff, we are surely never left without a single moment of thinking why this or that was done, each track is perfectly executed as the tracks move on half way through the album you will feel as if you are entering another world. Wormwood's Ghostlands - Wounds From A Bleeding Earth should do the same as Hyperion's debut did for them! In terms of quality and song writing the album is very well done, also the production is good. It's another gem to the collection of yours, so get your copy now, it's a must have for any fan of melodic/folk/black metal!
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