EP Review – Metaportal by Wormed (Season of Mist)
Spanish technical death metallers, Wormed, have released their brand new EP called Metaportal. Metaportal dropped on the 19th of July via Season of Mist.
Following on from 2016’s Krighsu, Metaportal keeps with the science fiction themes buried within an absolute brutal assault on the senses. Wormed are on the extreme side of technical death, renowned for their relentless assault on the senses. The Madrid based band formed in the late 90’s and have had a strong career lasting well over 2 decades. That is commendable, especially in a sub genre where it isn’t really easy to make a lasting impact.
Wormed are Phlegeton on vocals with Migueloud on guitars. On the bass it’s Guillemoth and on the drums we have V-Kazar who joined the band last year after the untimely death of their previous drummer, G-Callero.
Metaportal is 4 tracks and around 17 minutes in length and is viciously heavy. Within seconds of the start of opener Remote Void, you are either turning it up or turning it off. It’s so brutal there is unlikely to be a middle ground. Vocals are deep growled and pretty much completely indeterminable. The drums rain fire at colossal rate while a crunchy, metallic riff pounds at you repeatedly and relentlessly. Once you get through the initial shock though you start to pick out the depth on the record.
Odd time signatures, little stops and switches in tempo and some underlying groove that seems a little buried. Cryptoubiquity hits as hard as the opener with some ridiculously throat destroying extreme vocals. Again the riffs and rhythm hit you hard and constantly leaving the senses a little battered. Suddenly, with a little pause the track morphs into a more settled, intensely heavy, but settled rhythm. There are some really great riffs and lead lines hidden beneath the murky depths and a decent amount of atmosphere built by the sudden use of electronic sampling to close out the song.
Bionic Relic is no less heavy than what has come previously. Again the guitars seem to fly off in unexpected directions giving it all a progressive/technical edge. Vocals remain the same style of deathly growls and we get more of the stop, take off in another direction moments. The drums are brilliant mixing between speed rhythms and straight up fury too.
Metaportal closes with E-Xystem:/:Ce which offers something a little different. It starts off with some morose melody that builds up into the now familiar crunching riffs and off beat drums. Vocals haven’t changed but the technical side tonWormed comes out in droves and keeps things fascinating. Strange riffs, off kilter drum beats mix with little guitar screeches and squeals. It’s quite tough to pick up the rhythm as things switch up quickly and regularly. The track ends with a moment of chaos as the volume starts increasing and the instruments start to break down into echoes and distortion before a sudden stop.
Metaportal isn’t the most accessible thing you are going to listen to. One more for the seasoned metallers I think. The vocals are impressively harsh but are delivered in a singular monotone style that becomes repetitive over the 4 songs. The really beauty here is in the music though not everyone will see through the noise to get to the hidden layers below. We are very much in the technical death side of metal with some really exciting riffs and immense drumming. Odd timing, switch ups and sudden pauses all add to the sound even if they all get a little predictable by the end.
I like Metaportal a lot, though can see that it won’t be everyone’s cup of tea. If you are a fan of extreme metal or technical music, there is a lot to enjoy here but outside of that, the vocals could put you off with their lack of variety. Still, if you can persevere and scratch below the surface there are some nice surprises to be found.
Grab a copy of Metaportal now on all the usual streaming platforms. You can also grab a copy from Metaportal here.
Links
Bandcamp – Facebook – Website – Twitter – Instagram – Season of Mist
