This record is barely a week old and it's already heavy in my playlist. Worm spent years perfecting their death/doom sound on Foreverglade and the Bluenothing EP, but Necropalace is a hard turn into full symphonic black metal territory. It's their fourth full-length, running 62 minutes and 51 seconds across seven tracks, with most songs stretching between 7 and 14 minutes. Noah Buchanan handled production, and the mix is massive and clear—low end hits deep, keyboards fill space without smothering the guitars, and drums cut through sharp.
The lineup is Phantom Slaughter on vocals, guitar, and keyboards, Wroth Septentrion on guitar and keyboards, Equimanthorn on bass, and Myrdok on drums. The whole thing is built around vampire romance and necromantic blood cults—lyrics full of eternal night, infernal masquerades, crimson moons, and the weariness of immortality. It opens with "Gates to the Shadowzone (Intro)," a two-minute dungeon-synth piece that drops you into steel-blue lightning and tentacular spires, setting a cosmic portal mood right away.
The title track "Necropalace" follows with ten minutes of dense symphonic black: noisy keyboard walls, dynamic swells, vocals switching between black metal screams and gutturals, and shredding solos that slice through. It's the centerpiece and proves they can handle long-form songs without losing momentum. "Halls of Weeping" is nine minutes and serves as a more accessible entry point with tempo changes that echo old disEMBOWELMENT, giving breathing room amid the density. "The Night Has Fangs" runs seven minutes with furious energy, while "Dragon Dreams" lifts the album higher with its mix of speed and heaviness, glorious solos standing out as a peak moment. "Blackheart" has mid-paced, Type O Negative-style melancholy—catchy, blending black metal with gothic doom in a way that feels like pure vampire yearning. The closer "Witchmoon: The Infernal Masquerade" is the longest at 14 minutes, wrapping up the infernal themes with authority and a lingering fade.
The production is expertly balanced—huge dynamic range lets dramatic swells and solos shine, but it's still brutal and cinematic. Symphonic elements are thick and noisy, creating a dense black mist, while riffs and vocals stay sharp and authoritative. It's immersive and overblown in the best way, with a richness that makes it feel like a high point for the band.If you loved their earlier bog-dwelling death/doom, this shift might take a few spins to adjust to—it's less cavernous and more pompous symphonic black, which could leave some purists wanting the old style back. The long tracks can feel protracted if you're not fully in, and it has clear echoes of 90s Nordic symphonic black like Dimmu Borgir or Dissection. But overall, it's a sensation—wild, cohesive, and a darkly symphonic masterpiece that blows away expectations with real panache.I've been playing it nonstop since release—sometimes for the solos, sometimes for the atmosphere, sometimes just to feel the weight of the whole thing. This one's going to stick.
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