Palace of Worms – The Ladder

Though black metal has certainly progressed over the past decade, there are moments in which I ask myself, “Okay, so what’s next?” Sure, bands are taking the sounds pioneered by their predecessors and “expanding” upon them, maybe adding elements of post-rock (which is so overdone now – hey fledgeling post-rock black metal bands, do something else) or a minute extra-genre influence to make at least a minor mark, but there really hasn’t been much which has made me tilt my head and remark on its originality. Hell, we’ve been stuck in the post-Romantic era for the better part of two hundred years. How can we go forward?
In its seven tracks, USBM hermit Balan’s Palace of Worms takes what we might consider black metal, strip it to its bare elements, turn it on its head, and act as a master carpenter. Upon its inverted base, which, as evidenced by riffing style and harsh vocal approach, is clearly black metal, Balan ascends this eponymous ladder rung by rung, rising from genre distinction. Within The Ladder, Balan touches on gothic music and post-punk – “Wreathe” features a very apt Lycia impression, down to Mike VanPortFleet’s melodramatic enunciation – post-hardcore, shoegaze, and the ephemeral avant-garde, all while maintaining a significant “self.”
Throughout its many experiments, where Palace of Worms shines brightest is in its self-synchronicity – too many bands adventure from the norm and return altered and synthetic, yet Balan’s many-tentacled approach retains a central sound focus. This is how a genre successfully progresses, maintaining a constant backwards gaze while reaching and clutching onto whatever might tastefully fuse. I hate to use the word “alchemy,” a word I see far too often in press releases, but Balan definitely turns potentially haphazard experiments into gold. This is the first real step in “what comes next” that black metal has made in a long, long time.
The Ladder will be unleashed on April 8 via Broken Limbs Recordings, Sentient Ruin Laboratories, and Acephale Winter on LP, cassette, and digital formats. Read a statement from the artist below and listen to an exclusive full-album stream of The Ladder below. Support your favorite artists and labels.