ALBUM REVIEW: Twitching, As Prey – Woorms

As the saying goes, ‘the early bird catches the worm’. The worm is a nutritious and necessary meal for the bird, ensuring its survival. If the bird were to instead catch WOORMS it would almost certainly die almost instantly, crushed under the hot weight of the Baton-Rouge trio’s sludge-rock riffing. Twitching, As Prey is the second full length form the busy Louisianans, following hot on the heels of 2019’s debut Slake. While putting down similar roots in the swampy sludge of its forebear, the trio’s second born is perhaps a move into a slightly more playful sludge-rock that shares as much with THE MELVINS as it does with EYEHATEGOD and CORROSION OF CONFORMITY.

Opening track Take His Fucking Leg kicks off with a low, mean rumble, bass heavy with tumbles of toms. Mean grooves snarl under lurching riffs and gurgling, smokey vocals halfway between Buzz Osbourne and (weirdly) Noddy Holder. Escape Goat is bold and bassy, stomping drums meting out a slow swagger that drops into single, needling guitars. Frustrated vocals cut through the heaving, restless riffs, MELVINS-esque down to the drawl.

Unicorn Corn is massive, bloated, chugging riffs lumbering through stop/start sections and squalls of protesting amp noise. Fire is a Good Servant loops with guitar noise and a weird, high whistling, echoing with snatches of vocal samples. It bleeds into Silence and the Saints which goes from argy-bargy rhythm section rumbling, through bellowed vocals and syrupy sludge to thick, oddly uplifting guitars, uniting for a final, triumphant roll.

Beauty is a Trick of the Light and Sorrow starts off living up to its title, sorrowful bass dripping with big room-reverb, guitars and warbling organ creeping in before exploding with bombast. Line skitters and pulses with irresistible, restless grooves, skipping drums doing the heavy lifting under shouted vocal layers. Fire is a Bad Master scrapes and loops with aggressive noise, echoing with vocal samples and throbbing with deep, unsettling, gristly electronics.

Because They Looked Like Crosses is fuzzy, distant guitars droning and grinding on top of each other, slowly ambling before fading away. Closer God Botherer is tentative, plucking, low bass overtaken by dry strings and slow drums. Lilting, waltzing, it gives way to bright acoustics dripping with organic string noise, wearied, sighed vocals layering up before gently bringing things to an end.

Fans of big bollocked riffs, destructive rhythm sections and hedonistic, cross-genre dabbling need apply. Restless, experimental, unashamedly individual, this is a solid album from the trio that pushes the sludgy envelope, but perhaps not far enough – it’s an opening of a door, a statement of intent that hints at the future. A worthy listen, but it’s surely WOORMS‘ next effort that promises some mad shit.

Rating: 7/10

Twitching, As Prey is out now via Sludgelord Records.

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