Artist: Arise From Worms
Country: USA
Label: Church Road Records
Formats: LP / CD
Year: 2026
Although the formation of Arise From Worms had already been announced a little earlier, the release of their self-titled 3-track 12″ back in 2022 still came as something of a bolt from the blue. Arise From Worms is the brainchild of drum virtuoso Flo Mounier (Cryptopsy), powerhouse vocalist Steve Tucker (Morbid Angel), classically trained guitarist Sonny Lombardozzi (ex-Incantation) and keyboard maestro Derek Sherinian (ex-Malmsteen, ex-Kiss, ex-Dream Theater, ex-Joe Satriani, ex-Billy Idol). At first glance, it’s an unusual combination, but their debut 12″ EP proved that it actually works wonderfully well. The technical prowess of this line-up was abundantly clear, but fans of Nile were in for a real treat…
The comparison with Nile certainly held true in the second half of the 15-minute EP. Tucker’s thunderous roar fitted perfectly with the rattling drums, the complex riffs and the equally impressive dark atmosphere, much like that heard on Nile albums such as ‘Black Seeds Of Vengeance’. However, apparently that wasn’t enough for the lads, and with their debut album they’ve really gone the extra mile. Just as you have to read the title a few times to work out what they mean, this album is also one that needs a bit of extra time to sink in. Anyone who finds Death Metal with a technical, avant-garde or progressive edge leaves a bad taste in their mouth would be better off moving straight on to the next review.
To get straight to the point, ‘A Bleeding Tree Hanging Self Destruction’ is an album in which not a single 20-second stretch sounds the same as the one before or after it. In my review of ‘Arise From Worms’, I’d already drawn comparisons that boiled down to ‘Malmsteen meets Death Metal’, and that’s now even more the case than before. Blazingly fast scales on both guitar and keyboards, together with Mounier’s ever-astonishing drumming, set the tone. Those coming for the Nile-esque riffs might still find something to their liking, but will need to look a little harder and, above all, have the patience to plough through the song structures, which are unorthodox for Death Metal and at times downright hyper-complex.
The age-old Death Metal adage, ‘simple and effective’, certainly doesn’t apply here. Clearly, this isn’t really about the songs, but more about the ingenious interweaving of neo-classical guitar work and all sorts of arrhythmic wizardry. Normally, this is something I find difficult to get to grips with, to say the least, but these gentlemen have truly elevated it to an art form. So much so, in fact, that the band may well have reached the ultimate limit in terms of technique and complexity within the confines of the Death Metal genre; one step further and it might well be called non-instrumental Djent. Fortunately, these gentlemen know that overwhelming the listener’s ears and comprehension only works if it remains manageable; with just over 30 minutes on the clock, it’s ready to wrap up
The aforementioned debut EP was released independently on CD and on vinyl by Metal Bastard Records, run by the notorious swindler Oliver Schaffelhuber (formerly of Turbo Records, Metal Age Recordings, etc.); in other words, those 15 minutes of top-class Death Metal never reached most listeners’ ears. Fortunately, that EP features almost in its entirety on this album and forms the bulk of the Death Metal material. The two tracks that closed the EP also serve as the album’s finale, providing the listener, who managed to stick with it, with a more than spectacular climax. This is what you can rightly call excellent and impressive Technical Death Metal.
