ALBUM REVIEW: Slake – Woorms

Louisiana sludge-punk band WOORMS have honed an impressive work ethic since their 2017 inception, as the three piece consisting of guitarist/vocalist Joey Carbo, bassist John Robinson, and drummer Aaron Polk have already released a few demos, a run of digital singles and a split project with New Orleans thrash outfit A HANGING. The band’s debut album Slake is a fuzzy haze of triumphant riffs boasting a collection of comical track titles, that showcase exactly what WOORMS are all about.

WOORMS come across like a darker, dirtier and swampier incarnation of MASTODON at their best, with their sludge-centric bludgeoning bolstered by the commanding, raspy tones of Joey Carbo‘s vocals that consolidate the somewhat abrasive feeling instrumentals by adding a degree of grit and prolonging the sludgy stomp the band has worked towards. There is a dystopian approach to the lyrics which is coloured slightly anarchic and they at times sink into the instrumentals to merge into one, yet also they have a tendency to project off thunderously and wail tall above the instrumental.

Following the ambience flowing through the folk-y chime of album opener Corpse Corps that provides the proverbial calm before the storm, Find A Meal Find A Bed Find A God strolls in easy and heavy, smashing all in it’s path with a gritty and hoarse demeanour. From here on in, the surging intensity to the ferocious lumber retains centre stage throughout Slake that at times feels borderline hypnotic as it draws you in. While Slake can be a hypnotic experience, it is more so a disorientating one that you may not recall what happened in, due to the excessive monotony of a lot of the project.

The heights reached on Find A Bed… and Stiff Upper Lisp aren’t really met again and the pulsating rumble that props these tracks up descends into a borderline monotonous drone, rendering a lot of the content as forgettable as the hook on Find a Bed is strong. As funny and well coloured as track titles like Urine Trouble Now, Racist Kevin and Our Lady of Perpetually Shitfaced are, it’s a shame that the content doesn’t do the titles proud, instead there’s just a laboured plod and eerie transmission.

As Slake delves further in, it unfortunately seems to regress into a meander of predictable sounds and a lack of an exciting tinge to keep a listener on their toes, exactly as the band found with Find A Bed…. Perhaps relating to the ethos of efficiency the band has exuded that was relayed as praiseworthy earlier, this has also done them a disservice as the project reads like it could have certainly benefited from a little more time thrown into it’s production. There is certainly a lot of potential here and this isn’t a bad debut for the band who, when on point, are really enjoyable.

Rating: 6/10

Slake is out now via Hospital/Sludgelord Records.

Check out WOORMS on Facebook.