Consuming the Tangible

I’m still on a big metal kick. Something clicked over the last few weeks, all the talk about the latest from Worm on Century Media being fantastic led me down a winding path to find their previous album Foreverglade on 20BS, a random acquisition thanks to the Gimme Metal Vinyl Club. I finally found it buried in the basement, and playing it loud and proud on the stereo while no one was home morphed into a whole one-man DJ night, grabbing the few albums I had from the label (like Witch Vomit, Civerous, Slimelord, which you can read about here, here, and here) and spinning them – and myself – into a dizzying but satisfying heap on the rug.

From that sprawled and supine position I managed to reach my phone where I did the thing I always do when I’m reasonably stoned and trying to relieve stress. No, not that, you filthy animal…I logged onto 20 Buck Spin’s website and commenced hitting the “Add to Cart” button. This was the result.

A few small caveats about the playlist this week. The Cerebral Rot was an older get, again from the Gimme Metal Vinyl Club (a real cool venture so far if you’re interested), and the Voidceremony was purchased a few years back when I was trying to get over my hump with the monotonous sound the label seemed to be cultivating at the time. I added those to avoid any duplicates in the playlist this week; I also picked up the Starpath split between Worm and Dream Unending.

The Worm isn’t so much of a surprise, as the more symphonic, black metal-forward strengths of Necropalace helped me get past my initial misgivings around the more sludgy doom of the previous record. But I really bumped hard against Dream Unending when they first arrived on the scene. I still haven’t gone back to 2021’s Tide Turns Eternal, but there’s a melodicism in the melancholy within each song on the split and latest LP Song of Salvation that is now clinging to me, and I find myself falling into the group’s lengthy dirges much more easily.

Also, and let’s be honest about the real reason I just grabbed all these on vinyl. LOOK AT THOSE COVERS….

Seriously, some of the best artwork in the metal game, then and now. And the best part? For a few years now 20BS have been putting the entire album on YouTube for you to enjoy, so this week for everything but the Tomb Mold the playlist is comprised of the full albums. But if you just want the hour-long sample as per usual, the Apple Playlist below has you covered.

Be safe, be good to each other. See you next week.