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Release Date: November 08th 2024. Record Label: MRS Red Sound. Format: CD/DD/Vinyl
You, The King - Track Listing:
1. Daydream
2. Digging Deep
3. You, The King
4. Black Heaven
5. Drown
6. The Crown
7. The Final Dive
8. To Die Alone
Members
Julien Coppo: guitars, vocals
Clément Mozzone: bass, synths, vocals
Tom Valstar: drums, vocals
Review
Grunge/Doom/Stoner Metallers Wormsand undergo a Sludgy metamorphosis for their epic new album You, The King. Taking cues from bands such as MONOLORD, Alice In Chains, Soundgarden and YOB, the band don’t seem afraid to experiment with genre rules and conventions and putting everything through the creative blender for a record that’s quite cinematic within both the HEAVIER and QUIETER moments. The atmosphere can be considered part of the LOW & SLOW brigade but Wormsand are quite adverse by delivering a heavy groove that elevates their music to a muscular style of Atmospheric Sludge with Fuzz Rock and Post-Metal surroundings.
The opening two tracks of Daydream and Digging Deep. The songs do have a different creative strategy to each other with Wormsand offering Progressive Rock, Grunge, Stoner and Fuzz Rock passages for Daydream before venturing into an almost Blackened Doom Metal theme with Digging Deep. The vocals are mostly clean based but Digging Deep allows Wormsand to employ a more subtle and harsher style that matches the pitch-black FUZZED UP grooves the band are expertly conjuring up throughout the whole album.
Once again Wormsand blend Post-Stoner and Post-Rock lore into their music which can be quite abstract, heavy and beautifully muted at the same time. With moments of down-tuned distortion allowing the instruments to playing their own haunting style of destructive and apocalyptic melodies on tracks such as You, The King and Black Heaven.
The band are currently signed to Mars Red Sky record label MRS Red Sound and you can see that legendary band’s influence within Wormsand’s sound as well especially when the music moves from the quieter strands of Post-Stoner surroundings to an aggressive style Doom Metal which can be quite uplifting to hear at times. Though, it’s the Grunge aspect of You, The King and Wormsand’s music that’s the creative glue holding everything together. There’s a seedy Grunge vibe which allows Wormsand to branch out into other areas of Doom, Sludge and Stoner Metal without compromising their entire creative vision for You, The King.
If you’re a dedicated follower of FUZZ and LOW & SLOW music then Wormsand have you fully covered on the second half of the album with You, The King going even heavier and further for those aspects of music especially on tracks such as: Drawn, The Crown and To Die Alone. This is perhaps the most riff-centric part of the album with down-tuned guitars and a thrilling rhythm section creating a violent atmosphere for Wormsand to deliver slabs of DESTRUCTIVE FUZZ and SLUDGY GROOVES that can be quite deafening to hear at times but that’s one of the main strengths of the whole album.
You, The King is an outstanding album from Wormsand and one that can easily be classed as one of the year’s best albums even this late into the year. I expect to see You, The King to become a firm favourite of the underground scene for many years to come and could be the catalyst for Wormsand to establish themselves as one of the most promising and brilliantly creative bands to emerge out from the French Sludge/Stoner Metal underground scene in quite some time.
Words by Steve Howe
Thanks to Shake Promotion for the promo.
You, The King is now available to buy on CD/DD/Vinyl via MRS Red Sound.
Links
Facebook | BandCamp | Instagram
