Again Shall be…
It has been far too long. Seriously. It wasn’t until I sat down and began to write my first review in ages that I realized how much I missed Worm Gear. The interaction with all of you and being able to sit and singularly focus on someone’s piece of music. Though this is a smallish update, Jim and I are back in spirit and mind. So what inspired the hiatus? Burnout. Busy family life for both of us. And the fact that Bindrune Recordings has been picking up steam. Finally. Been working since 2000 to see this happen. You will never hear me bitch about that. I’m just going with it and we had to step away from WG to realize how much it meant to us. So yes, should we go silent again, do know that we will return at some point. This has been slogging on since 1995… how could we stay away?
One thing that was a bit overwhelming, is to realize the amount of releases that we missed out on spewing about while we were gone. so not all of these reviews will likely be current in moving forward. We will likely pick and choose to keep it interesting.
I can’t even wrap my head around what came out last year, although there was a lot of great stuff. Jim took the time to throw a list of favorites from 2014 and I may do the same at some point, but for now the year is a clouded mess in my head other than the stunning (in my perhaps not so humble opinion) music that we have released.
So for future plans… the whole thing. Massive amounts of reviews. Select interviews. Band discography retrospectives. Album streams. Perhaps some goest writers? Sure! We’re back. -Marty
Marty Rytkonen – Playlist
Ahamkara – The Embers of the Stars
The Sex Pistols – Flogging a Dead Horse
Monstrosity – Imperial Doom
Waldgefluster – Femundsmarka – Eine Reise in drei Kapiteln (Test press 2LP)
Alda – Passage (master)
Panopticon – Autumn Eternal Demos
Kjeld – Skym
Darkenhold – Castellum (My god this rules!)
Fall of the Leafe – Evanescent, Everfading
Jim’s Favorite Albums of 2014
Since it’s been too long in coming, I’ll spare everyone descriptions of these albums’ sounds and any attempt at putting them ‘in order’. Here are the 2014 albums that have had me take the most notice – enjoy:
Agalloch – The Serpent & The Sphere
Waldgeflüster – Meine Fesseln
Dead Congregation – Promulgation of the Fall
Mare Cognitum – Phobos Monolith
Woman Is the Earth – Depths
Panopticon – Roads to the North
Krieg – Transient
Falls of Rauros – Believe In No Coming Shore
Thou – Heathen Spectral Lore – III
Howls of Ebb – Vigils of the 3rd Eye
TrenchRot – Necronomic Warfare
Heavydeath – Demo I (Post Mortem in Aeternum Tenebrarum)
Ifing – Against this Weald
Skogen – I Döden
Nachtreich / Spectral Lore – The Quivering Lights
Worm Gear 
So happy to see you guys are back! It’s been far to long. Glad to see that Darkenhold album getting some love!
My recent jams:
Eyehategot – Take as Needed for Pain
Beautality – Einfallen: A Tale ov Torment & Triumph
Katavasia – Sacrilegious Testament
Saint Vitus – Born Too Late
Der Weg Einer Freiheit – Stellar
Abstracter – Wound Empire
Dynfari – Vegferð Tímans
Perdition Temple – The Tempter’s Victorious
Paradise Lost – Gothic
Judicator – At the Expense of Humanity
Axis of Advance – Obey
Eternal Valley – Ascend to the Unknown
Axis of Advance – Purify EP
Enforcer – From Beyond
Magic Kingdom – Savage Requiem
Strung Out – Transmission.Alpha.Delta
Unrest – Grindcore
Trouble – Psalm 9
Sorcerer – In the Shadow of the Inverted Cross
Corpo-Mente – Corpo-Mente
Ashbringer – Vacant
Good to read that business is good over at Eihwaz/Bindrune (why do I suddenly think of Megadeth?).
I agree with Jim on Dead Congregation and Krieg and I would add Sinister Ceremonies by Domains, Ecdysis by Horrendous and Serpentine Hermetic Lucifer by Nuclearhammer. Honorary mention to Towards Divine Death by Lie In Ruins, massive and hypnotizing.
Recently playing:
Arkhon Infaustus – Orthodoxyn (Anastasis from Dead Congregation recommended this to me, he wrote “I don’t think you can imagine how massive this is”. He was right.)
Lie In Ruins – Swallowed By The Void
Domains – Towards Pleroma
Malevolent Creation – Eternal (They don’t make ‘m like this anymore.)
Marduk – Frontschwein
Ars Macabra – III
Arvas – Blessed From Below: Ad Sathanas Noctum
Spite Extreme Wing – Vltra
Falkenbach – Tiurida (Where His Ravens Fly is totally addictive, although I can image some will find it totally corny.)
Nightbringer – Death And The Black Work
Karnarium – S/T
And..
Thanatos – Global Purification
Eternal Solstice – Remnants of Immortality
Pentacle – Five Candles Burning Red
…dutch death is still here!
The entry title made me go dig out my old Hades CD, as the Wormlords have called us together for another “Unholy Congregation”. A great track from a great album; one that holds quite a bit of nostalgia for me. A plethora of fantastic material, both discovered and revisited, has kept me far busier than I could have imagined for the first quarter of 2015. I do not have the time at the moment to make a list, but I shall return. For now I am off to finish spinning Mischevious Augury – Immortal Land. Welcome back, gentlemen.