What happens when a single musician seeks to seek new avenues when creating new music? Luckily for us, the underground has long been littered with musicians that refuse to be stuck within the same genre boundaries for too long as they seek something different for one reason or another. It’s one of the many things that have always made the underground such a fascinating and oftentimes unpredictable place that is always rife with surprise if you know where the look and give the realms the time to do what it will at its own pace. Born from the mind of a man that has made more than a splash in the underground, it’s with the debut of Wurmian that we see a magnificent example of that very concept.

Having already become accomplished in any given sound is an accomplishment worthy of applause in plenty of instances, yet it becomes something of a different nature altogether when you dare to take that extra leap forward and attempt the same in another sound. Not many are able to pull it off, but the name of Antoine Scholtès is one we definitely need to remember for he more than earns a place in that conversation. Already having done great things within his other acts of Inherits the Void and Lyrside, black metal and melo-death respectively, it’s now with Wurmian that Antoine dives into death-doom that feels pulled straight out of the 90s golden age of the style. And it demands to be made clear: “Immemorial Shrine” more than delivers on that promise.

A delicate and nuanced balance of power that doesn’t hold back in the slightest in delivering a compelling diversity of speed that allow for the album to not just tap into a side of death-doom that many fail to attain, it becomes clear immensely quick that Wurmian knew what it was doing from its earliest moments. Grappling onto the very soul of the listener and drawing them into a dreary realm that is captivating to look upon while always instilling a sense of fear and isolation even amongst such macabre beauty that may not be apparent at first, “Immemorial Shrine” offers obvious reverence to those that originated the sound and propelled it into what it is today, but in no way does that limit Wurmian. Rather, Wurmian takes its own path that is simultaneously familiar and fresh. Often do we see plenty in the greater landscape of death-doom seek to embody what great acts like Katatonia or Amorphis delivered all the years ago, but it’s only on the rare occasion do we see an act take an adjacent path that is certifiably its own. Never once does Wurmian stray from the core pillars that made death-doom the sensation that it still is, yet never once does “Immemorial Shrine” feel like it’s going where much of the competition is as always for it sets out to do a little bit of its own thing and succeeds magnificently.

A release like this is what one needs in order to realize that they’re in the presence of excellence undeniable. Already has this man proven himself capable in two different veins of extreme metal, and it’s here that we’re able to bear witness to another approach that offers all the more credit to the fact that this is a guy that has long inhabited and worshipped what the underground has become. Wurmian is just one page in a man’s long journey to becoming a singular powerhouse of the underground with “Immemorial Shrine” the beginning of a glorious new chapter.

“Immemorial Shrine” releases on April 6th via Pest Records!

LISTEN to an advanced track from “Immemorial Shrine” on Bandcamp here, or via YouTube below.

LIKE Wurmian on Facebook here.