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Garden of Worm - Self-Titled

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At 2:34 in “Black Clouds”, I always look up. The song embodies its title through a weary trudge (“Black clouds of self-destruction are towering / Now higher than ever before / Casting the gray shade of oblivion / Upon the ruins of my life”). But then the clouds part, and up pops a I-IV-V chord progression. The I-IV-V is a pop music staple (the Ramones paid their bills with it); its tension-and-release has become musical shorthand for “everything will be all right”. But everything won’t be all right. The I-IV-V disappears, never to return. The trudge grows even heavier.

“Black Clouds”
[audio: GARDENOFWORM_BLACK.mp3]

The effect is bittersweet – a lot of darkness, a little light. This quality characterizes Garden of Worm‘s debut album, out on Shadow Kingdom. It depicts a constant uphill battle with occasional interruptions from forces that are perhaps supernatural. Weary limbs, fading days, and “alcohol poisoned obscurity” haunt the record. But in “Psychic Wolves”, shadows guided by “a hidden inner light” gather around the narrator. In “The Ceremony”, the devil “is smiling and takes you by the hand”. The lineage is obvious – see Black Sabbath’s “N.I.B.”: “My name is Lucifer, please take my hand”. This record harks back to Sabbath’s elemental nature. Man is alone, fighting everyday life (“Killing Yourself to Live”) and sometimes unidentified forces (“What is this that stands before me?”) Decades of metal roll away, and we are back at its genesis: fear.

However, this is no Sabbath retread. The trills are pure Tony Iommi, but otherwise the guitars curiously recall the twang of Earth’s Dylan Carlson. (Justin Bartlett’s album cover references art folk group Comus.) Garden of Worm is a trio, so guitarist/vocalist EJ. Taipale fills space by using ringing, open chords. But like Carlson, he knows that adding open strings onto otherwise conventional chords adds spice. And like Carlson, he doesn’t dial up too much dirt in his sound – enough to be heavy, but not enough to obscure the sounds of fingers and picks. So open notes ring out like wayward thoughts, never to be resolved. Taipale’s voice follows suit. He’s not some operatic powerhouse; he’s an everyman who hits his notes. (His phrasing recalls that of Rush’s Geddy Lee.) One man picks his way through the world, armed with some chords and some notion of the truth.

“Spirits of the Dead”
[audio: GARDENOFWORM_SPIRITS.mp3]

The heaviest metal is not necessarily that which sounds the heaviest. Bands now tune much lower, play much slower, and use much more muscular tones than early Black Sabbath. Yet Sabbath is usually still heavier, thanks to the total package: songs, lyrics, performances, atmosphere, artwork. Garden of Worm may not seem like the heaviest band around, but they carry the weight of the world on their shoulders.

— Cosmo Lee

Amazon (MP3)
Amazon (CD)
Relapse (CD)
The End (CD)

CM Distro (CD)

Svart Records (LP)

Shadow Kingdom (CD)

Interview @ Lords of Metal