There is virtue in stepping out of your comfort zone in the effort to broaden your own understanding and appreciation of any art form. Even if it is a small step to the side of what one is normally comfortable with consuming, the value of exploring new ground to give a more even-keeled experience while critiquing new art. All of this is a vague preamble for my foray into reviewing three new records at the same time, Wormhole’s Almost Human, Alkaloid’s Numen, and Horrendous’ Ontological Mysterium. While I am no stranger to the world of technical death metal, I stick to the more pristine neighborhoods of the genre. Reviewing these three records at the same time, every one of which fall slightly outside my wheelhouse, has given me the chance to test the limits of my own preferences!

To begin with, we have Wormhole’s third record Almost Human. Following the well-received The Weakest Among Us, Wormhole is back with another offering of their brand of technical death metal. Wormhole has always toyed with the lines that separate tech-death and slam/brutal death metal, incorporating heavy chromatic slams along with dizzyingly frenetic riffs in a combination that shouldn’t work on paper, but they have fused to enjoyable degrees. In that regard, Almost Human is no different, although the major progression in this record is the move towards an even grittier and more dissonant approach to their songwriting. For those who are steeped in the various sub and microgenres of extreme metal and have become familiar with the tropes and expectations that follow, will immediately look at the artwork for Almost Human and pick up on the fact that this record is a departure from the squeaky clean side of techdeath and more in the murk and sludgy side of the genre, more akin to Artificial Brain and Ulcerate.

From the opening track and released single “System Erase” this preference for writing extended sections focusing on dissonant and off-kilter melodies is immediately apparent, but really sets in on the following track “Elysiim”. While Wormhole still throws in the occasional slammy section on the opening tracks, the focus on these “Artificial Brain/Ulcerate-y” sections can easily throw off some of the long-time fans of the band, me included. As mentioned, I mostly stick to the hyper percussive high-octane side of techdeath (Soreption, Inferi, Psycroptic, etc), and usually don’t gel well with the more meandering and dissonant side of the genre, so Almost Human started off poorly for me.

However, and this is a big however, the slooms and the hyperblast were thrown right in my non-believer face on the appropriately named “Spine Shatter High-Velocity Impact”. As much a mouthful the name of the track is, the song itself is everything I have always liked about Wormhole’s previous records The Weakest Among Us and Genesis: plenty of high BPM slams, and riffs, with plenty of blast beats, double bass, and jagged solos. This kind of songwriting is where Wormhole does its best work. Fortunately, the aggression doesn’t let up much on “Delta Fortress Orbital Stationary”. These Artificial Intelligence meatgrinder-generated track names further deepen the themes of post-human apocalyptic horror. “Delta Labs” sees Wormhole playing with tempos even further, dropping the tempo of a slam section mid-bar to highly successful results.

In the vein of “Spine Shatter…”, my favorite track on the record has to be “Bleeding Teeth Fungus”. Another absolute punisher of a tech-slam track, this track really flexes that Wormhole songwriting muscle, with plenty of stop-start goodness along with blasting drums and even the odd Psycroptic-esque riff thrown in for good measure. The album closer “The Grand Oscillation” goes in the way of the opening tracks and bring backs to the dissonance, but serves as a better closer and breath of fetid air at the end of all the violence brought about by the previous few tracks. As a personal quibble, I sincerely wished Wormhole would have traded the order of “Elysiim” and perhaps “Delta Labs” to keep the pacing fresh. I’m sure they had their thematic reasons that are above my paygrade! 

It’s clear that the Kumar brothers, guitarists Sanjay Kumar and Sanil Kumar are expert musicians and proficient songwriters. Their chosen songwriting chops toe the line between the brutal side and the technical side of death metal without fully diving into any one trope for too long. New to the roster is bassist Matt Tillet (from the excellent band GreyLotus) and he brings the perfect level of energy and intensity to bolster the Kumar Slams. The biggest change to the Wormhole sound is the debut of vocalist Julien Kersey (ex-Aegaeon, ex-The Faceless). This is where my quibbles come back up. While I think Julien is a masterful vocalist, and there are none who do low gutturals quite like him in the scene, I personally feel his style of sludgy gutturals jar against the more hyperviolence of the rest of the band. His lack of variation and chosen cadence makes the vocals and lyrics feel more like wading through thick treacle or grimy slime rather than something more aggressive that the rest of the sound yearns for. Only time will tell whether future releases with this lineup see more adaptation of these two competitive elements to create something more apt and cohesive.

Wormhole’s Almost Human tries to tread new ground opting for a grittier and more dissonant approach to technical slam to varying degrees of success. However, when they fall back on their surefire elements, the record benefits greatly. ‘Almost Human’, like our own person, is Almost Great!