4 out of 5

Label: Dark World

Produced by: Steven Wardlaw

The younguns discover The Albums That Made Us and, with the unavoidable narrowed experience of their age, deliver derivative variations of those albums, or versions that don’t translate a spark anew. Cynically, that can be cyclical: this new band produces an arguably imperfect representation, but now it sounds fresh to the current generation and inspires them, and they produce knock-offs of knock-offs…

I’m not wholly that cynical, though: not only has this cycle always been the case in all creative mediums and is arguably necessary; the other avenue is that creativity keeps getting refreshed, and whether through purposeful translation or divine musical smarts or both, new music that iterates excitingly on the old keeps coming out.

Still, there can be some “aw shucks” vibes of missed opportunities when a band makes those iterations, but at a time when they just don’t catch steam.

I’m sure Amherst’s Worms had their local following, but their super indie, limited catalogue suggests it may be didn’t make it too far past a certain radius or exposure. Thankfully, as of this writing, bandcamp gives us easy access to enjoyment, but there’s a world where the group’s casual but precise mash-up of Pavement slacker college rock, post-hardcore / -rock Jesus Lizard sludge, 90s grunge, and 00s indie noodling found on Polyvinyl-adjacent labels would’ve created a giant stir, worthy of mention alongside more “notable” cult or namedroppable acts on Matador, or Touch and Go. The heavier parts of this would’ve killed several decades before its actual release; the slightly riffier, head-bobby bits a couple decades before.  But in 2011, we’re hitting the wave where bands have much shorter lifespans in the limelight, and discovery through streaming is increasingly easier. Lots more of the aforementioned shallower acts are popping up, and the generally grungey vibe of Worms hadn’t yet hit a nostalgia bump.

But damn, this is good stuff. As the above smatterings of references may suggest, the group somewhat suffers from an identity crisis musically – bettered on their meatier followup – though at the same time, the group taps into a raw sense of eagerness that gives an edge to its various stylistic nods, with a well-managed (-produced) combo of surefire skill and mash-stuff-together abandon resulting in an ultimate run of immediately rocking, catchy, poppy and yet heavy tunes.

Lyrically, while we’re mostly in a land of declaratory statements where nothing seems especially deep, there’s equally a lack of pretense which makes it easy to smile and shout along.

I missed the window on this act. I’ll try to evangelize from my new-music-from-Worms-less present as much as possible.