Swedish Wormlight has gone through quite a few changes in its short existence. After releasing their second EP Bloodfields independently in 2015, Nordlyst left the band and brand new guitarist Tiamat Invictuz took up the duty of vocals as well from now on. Now they’ve signed with Black Lion Records for a re-release of Bloodfields and added two extra tracks with Tiamat’s vocals to give the fans an idea on how it’ll sound.

And that sound belongs to the category of the classic Swedish melodic black metal era. With the first song Wormlight you get a perfect picture of what they’re all about: a very raw and technical, yet melodic black metal taking you back to the heydays of the second wave of black metal. It may not be the most innovating kind of music, but it’s done on such a high level that it won’t bore you for a second. Wormlight starts off with a sinister intro and kicks in heavily with blast beats and vocals that aren’t fully black screams but rather a mix of death and black. The guitars add the melodic layer to it and lots of tremolo pickings get the pace to a higher level on regular occasions. Pitch Black Hatred has at first a rather groovy melody to it, reminding me somewhat of Satyricon to fully surrender to black metal with the chorus. Simply a great track that’ll get a lot of people banging their heads live!

The title track explodes in an ecstasy of screams, grunts, blast beats and fast tremolo picking that never seems to die down throughout the whole aggressive song. Yet it’s easy to find some melody in the background, especially when the bridge and solo infuse it with masterfully skilled guitar play. Lyrically Wormlight finds inspiration from the same dark pool of themes where most black metal bands get their ideas, though this record shows them dipping their toes in some Nordic mythology as well compared to their earlier anti-Christian themes.

As said earlier, the two bonus tracks are basically re-recordings of Wormlight and The Bloodfields with this time Invictuz on the vocals. Personally I might have prefered the earlier vocalist a little bit, but Invictuz definitely doesn’t lack in conviction and brutality. If I wouldn’t have heard the other versions, I might never have had any comments on this. The songs still contain the same amount of aggressiveness, rawness and melody and will be enjoyed by any black metal fan.

Wormlight didn’t reinvent anything with Bloodfields, but delivered a skillfully crafted piece of melodic black metal ranging from the Swedish coldness. With this re-release they also gave us a peek into the future with their new vocalist Invictuz, which sounds very promising to me. This is definitely an EP to check out when you’re into the second wave of black metal that came from Sweden back in the days. Also look out for their upcoming full release that should come within this year through Black Lion Records!

Release date: December 3rd, 2016
Label: Black Lion Records
Tracklist:
1. Wormlight
2. Pitch Black Hatred
3. Towards Impious Domination
4. The Bloodfields
5. Wormlight (Invictuz on vocals)
6. The Bloodfields (Invictuz on vocals)