4 out of 5

Label: Last Watt Records; Dark World

Produced by: Salvador McNamara (recorded and mixed by)

A wild and unique cross-section of so many punky, grungey, rocky things, Worms’ self-titled full-length traces a line from 90s hardcore punk up through 2010s post-rock, framed with the raw, experimental musical energy of youth – undoubtedly talented youths, tumbled about in a sea of influences, resulting in a fully formed sound that arguably betters on those influences in some ways.

As recorded and mixed by Salvador McNamara, you’ll soon get a taste of whether or not the general sound is for you: washed out vocals; some clipping; a heavy low-end. It’s got a lo-fi, straight-to-tape vibe, but within that – whether accidental or purposeful – there’s a sense of precision: this is exactly how Worms should sound. It brings out both their ability to riff it up, resulting in instantly catchy grooves that call to mind In Utero-era Nirvana in their blended rough and poppy elements, but also the close-to-speaker guitar / bass makes all of the post-rock touches – think Slint – that much more apparent and impressive, mainly because of how naturally they’re affected. This isn’t a group that feels like it’s forcing things either way, to be head-bobby or mechanically wild, and rather just presenting the music as it arrives, and their talents – individually and as a group – bring it alive.

I’ve named two heavyweight, obvious references, but that’s really just the starting point. It’s Worms’ best trick: presenting with some tonal familiarity and then taking the song in unusual but organic directions, allowing them to flex between shorter, punkier blasts, or almost poppy harmonies, such as on closer Ice Skater.

The other “plus” to the recording is that it somewhat backgrounds the lyrics. While the vocals, alternating between shout-singing and some maybe dated hardcore howls, are very strong, always achieving a good tone for the tune, and matching the vibes, peeking at song titles like ‘Finals Week’ and ‘Driver’s Ed’ – alongside my nods towards the band’s presumed collective youth – gives you an idea of the subject matter. Only… not really. If there’s another Nirvana touch, it’s that we get some lines that are pretty clear, but a lot of this is mired in more oblique phrasings, and I credit the lyricist (vocals are credited to both “Chris” and “Lucas”) for not falling back on easy rhymes or out-of-the-box concepts. At the same time, it’s the kind of obliqueness that still rings of youth, because it feels maybe a bit hollow, and given those song titles, we kind of get the gist and suspect that the things being sung about are probably as basic as we’d guess. …Which are universal themes, sung about by all ages! Just the point I’m getting at is there is a sense of immaturity in the way they’re sung about, even if I appreciate that the writers were trying to find ways outside of the norm to do so.

Whatever the case, that fuzzy production prioritizes the tunes, and we can vibe with the emotion of the singing over the words along the way.

Overall, this is definitely one of those hidden gems of rock, navigating between a lot of the coolest elements of the punk / indie rock scenes from a couple of generations and managing a unique, memorable blend of those for an entire album’s worth of tunes.