#AlbumReview: Wormwood – Å
Band: Wormwood
Title: Å
Label: Black Lodge Records
Release date: August 7th, 2026
Country: Sweden
Format reviewed: High-Quality Digital Recording
#AlbumReview: Wormwood – Å via Black Lodge Records by Sílvia
The Swedish masters of mixing melodic black metal with Nordic darkness and melancholy and some folk-alike tunes, all seasoned with apocalyptic lyrics, aka Wormwood, are back again and this time have released an EP, “Å”, consisting on 2 tracks and a total running time of 16 minutes. Let me warn you about two things: if you like (I mean, really REALLY like) the music this band has released so far, you’ll probably love this new album. And the second thing… well, this is personal: I fell in love with it from the first listen and this review may be a biiit long, ‘cause I wanted to say a lot of things, mostly about the emotions these two songs provoke in me.
So… if you have time enough to keep on reading, take a seat, grab your beer, and let’s celebrate “Å”. These are just my personal thoughts about the music, as always…
“Yra och Extas” (“Delirium and Ecstasy”) starts in a very aggressive way, overwhelming, dark… A bit after, the guitar melody enters, luminous and spectacular; a touch of synthesizers in the background creates a more ethereal atmosphere; the bass makes its path, really audible, I love it; and then the drums kick in full force again. The vocals are dark and very raspy. Little by little, a dense atmosphere unfolds…
There are several tempo changes throughout this track, different atmospheres, a bass that creates a spectacular vibration, keyboards that sometimes sound a bit playful… The melody becomes almost cheerful around the middle of the song, guitars that intertwine beautifully, the lead guitar standing out with a clean and bright tone. There’s a lot of melancholy present, feelings overflow, the music takes me on a constant emotional rollercoaster. Backing vocals by Oskar Tornborg that noticeably reinforce Nine’s dark vocal work. And a spectacular guitar solo at the end, with a triumphant yet sad feel… very characteristic of Wormwood.
This is the first album with Simon Samuelsson on drums, and let me say, he totally fulfills my expectations of percussion being varied, carrying the weight of the songs with energetic patterns, never being excessive, very consistent, just perfect at every moment. And also, with more calmed drumming (but never, never lame) when the melancholy is at its peak.
The lyrics might be a bit ambiguous, but if you watch the video for this song, which is like a film (courtesy of Svartna Film, featuring Astrid Hallén), you realize the raw intensity it conveys. The story is devastating, terrible… and unfortunately, it could be real. A sad tale of human degradation at its most extreme.
“Purposeless Geometry” is of a different kind. The lyrics describe a terrifying present, with no future for humanity and a world utterly sick, lifeless, ravaged by human greed and madness. These are fairly common themes for this band…
I don’t know if the children’s choirs perhaps represent the future that humanity won’t have, appearing as a desperate cry while Nine describes an apocalyptic reality. Even if it’s made in a nonchalant, playful way… It could be.
In this second song, the guitar work is spectacular, highly melodic. Tobias Rydsheim and Jerry Engström build a fantastic soundscape together, as they always do. The pause in the middle of the song creates a menacing atmosphere and it’s a window into a lifeless future, using those unsettling samples and synths, from which Tobias’ lead guitar rescues us with a luminous solo, bringing us back to the present, which isn’t exactly bright, but it’s what we have. The bass, oh how it resonates… I love its prominence, Oskar does magnificent work. The soft paced drums provide calm, a moment for contemplation; until Nine returns with a super dark and aggressive vocal register, a new dose of the sick reality of this world we inhabit and the society to which, whether we like it or not, we belong.
The title of this EP, “Å”, is not only a letter; it’s a Swedish word meaning “stream”, and I think that maybe represents the flow of life that never stops, only with death. But, only some particular lives stop, not “life in general”, even if in this present times it’s highly corrupted… Life is a more wide concept, and it will prevail with humanity on Earth or without it. (Well, I think that without it…)
To sum up, I’ll only say that this EP is brilliant, ala Wormwood style; these guys have been releasing fantastic albums since their beginning, and they have been improving through the years. “Å” deserves from me a solid 10/10
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10/10 Immortal Classic
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