We had some very positive things to say here about Lord Ov Thornes, the 2020 debut album by King Ov Wyrms, and we weren’t the only reviewers or listeners to greet the album enthusiastically.
It was then the solo project of Michael Oneirous Sanchez from Tuscon, Arizona, and represented a way of delving more deeply into more extreme forms of sonic aggression than his previous bands, drawing influence from classic death and black metal acts of the late ’80s and early ’90s, including such venerated names as Morbid Angel, Bloodbath, Enthroned, Vader, and Dark Funeral.
Now we are approaching the October 6 release date of a new King Ov Wyrms album named The Womb Ov Borealis, and it reflects changes, not only in the band’s lineup but also in the songwriting. All the changes take the band on a forward march, an advance that makes the new album even more impressive than the debut.
L-R – Michael Oneirous Sanchez – Vocals, Guitars, Bass (Studio) – Ricky Williams – Drums
With respect to personnel, this time Michael Oneirous Sanchez was joined by his old friend Ricky Williams on drums, and by session bassist Derrek Page on three of the songs that are included on The Womb Ov Borealis.
With respect to songwriting, the band pursued their own creative impulses on the new album with a much freer hand, and so compared to the first album it’s less of an homage to the groups that inspired that debut and more of an effort by King Ov Wyrms to forge their own identity. As Oneirous explains:
“I believe the new album will be a bit of a step away from the first album Lord Ov Thornes where we tried to emulate what inspired us. This time we tried to go totally blind into our own musical talents with little to no inspiration but rather just delivering something more of our own…. We want to introduce the listener to a ‘new’ King Ov Wyrms, we want to show what we can create when we aren’t trying to stick to typical genre ideas and explore what we can create with our different backgrounds.”
As an example of this changed creative approach, what we have for you today is the second song revealed so far from The Womb Ov Borealis. It’s name is “To March from Darkness“, one of the first songs written for the album, and thus one that includes Derrek Page on bass.
Lyrically, the song narrates a hellish war on heaven, with a satanic horde bent on bringing fire and slaughter to the angelic host. Not surprisingly, there’s abundant fire and fury in the music as well.
As the drums hammer the listener’s head the riffing blares and blazes in livid pulsating tones, and roils and drills in displays of cruel violence, while the vocals utter the enraged words in monstrous guttural tones and strangled snarls and screams, and wild quivering leads channel derangement.
The music also brings in filaments of eerie melody that add a supernatural atmosphere, jolting body-blows, electrifying drum progressions, and a guitar solo that’s maniacally spectacular but also transforms into an expression of agony.
Moreover, all the song’s changing motifs have the capacity to get stuck in the head.
We mentioned that this is the second song that has surfaced from the new album so far. Oneirous describes the first one, “In Aeons We Spoke“, as “essentially the title track for us, by far the biggest embodiment of the album and a great entryway into what’s about to come”. It begins in eerie and ominous fashion, dissonant and distraught yet mesmerizing… and then it explodes in electrifying madness, with lots of exhilarating twists and turns in the blast front.
The song was also presented through a music video that features the band performing the song — and man, can they perform! — even though they’re primarily a studio project without a performing lineup. Take some deep breaths and check it out here:
The Womb Ov Borealis comes recommended for fans of Belphegor, Vader, and Morbid Angel. It includes 8 tracks and more than an hour of music.
Once again the development of the album was entirely managed within the band, with the writing, recording, mixing, mastering and overall engineering work being taken care of by Michael Oneirous Sanchez in his personal studio.
For more info about the album and how to get it as the release date approaches, check the locations linked below.
BANDCAMP:
https://kingovwyrms.bandcamp.com/
FOLLOW KING OV WYRMS:
https://www.facebook.com/KingOvWyrms
https://www.instagram.com/oneirous_oss/