Swedish melodic black metal act Wormwood are back with their second full-length album ‘Nattarvet’, following from 2017’s ‘Ghostlands – Wounds From A Bleeding Heart’. Prior to the recording of the album they misplaced their bassist, so guitarist Nox also provides that along with keyboards. The quartet have all been together since before the debut, but for this release Nox is using his real name of Jerry Engström, drummer Johtun is Daniel Johansson, guitarist Rydsheim is Tobias Rydsheim which only leaves singer Nine staying as a man of mystery (ok, so his name is Georg Ekbladh but he is still listed as Nine on the album).

There are some who may argue that the changes in names are more interesting than the music itself, but that is probably a little harsh and somewhat unfair, although there is some truth in it. To be honest, even though I have played this album a lot, it never moves away from the “it’s ok” stage. There just isn’t enough in here to really grab interest of the listener, and although they have given themselves the opportunity to expand by having fairly lengthy numbers (none of them are under five minutes, and one is longer than 11), they just don’t make the best use of it. It contains all the elements one will expect from a melodic black metal or black ‘n’ roll band, and one can almost tick them off a list (including a delicate and reverb-laden almost solo/ambient section). But there is little here that is memorable, and I found myself looking to see how much longer the album had to go, which is never a good thing. Yes it is a fairly interesting release, but is there anything here which makes it stand out above all the other releases from similar acts? Simple two letter answer to that question. I haven’t heard the debut, but have read that this is quite different to that with the folk elements far more constrained, with people split as to which is the better. All I can say is although it has been well produced and performed it is unlikely I will return to it again voluntarily.

Rating: 6/10

Links:
https://www.wormwood-official.com/
https://www.facebook.com/blacklodgerecords/