Palace of Worms - Lifting the Veil

Written by: Nick

Palace of Worms, a one man band from San Francisco, California features Balan on everything. Balan is also a member of funeral doom/black metal combo, Ordo Obsidium. This was released in 2010 but deserves a spot here on the Slug. I picked it up awhile back from Flenser, listened to it once and put it away. My ears weren't fond of what they heard at that time. After ordering a copy of Ordo Obsidium's Orbis Tertius, thoroughly enjoying it, and doing some research via Metal Archives while I should have been working I discovered Balan is a shared member. That night, I threw Palace of Worms in the walkman for another shot and realized my ears had been faulty the night of my first listen.




How I was so misled by my own ears is a mystery, but no where near the first time this has happened. As I said to a friend the other day about a band I couldn't stand, "give it a year, I'll probably love them."

Anyway, Palace of Worms has some pretty excellent guitar work, catchy and elegant for the realm of black metal. Balan's vocals are violent and clear with intent. Fourth track, Anamoly, is an ambient soundscape scraped with noise and a disembodied voice that divides the album's seven tracks. Some tastefully done keyboards adorn parts of the album amid the riff-heavy tracks. Although the drums sound a bit too mechanical at times, they're very well done. As always, I'm impressed by the amount of talent, work and dedication that goes into one-man projects so I can handle the minor fact of drumming sounding mechanical.

Scurry on over to Flenser and pick yourself up a copy of this tape. If you want to check it out first, it is available for free download on Flenser's Band Camp. I'm highly anticipating the next phase of Palace of Worms as well as a second installment of Ordo Obisium.Both are quality releases

Bandcamp
Metal Archives
Flenser Records
Flenser's Band Camp