Worm – Necropalace

Worm – Necropalace
Release Date: 13th February 2026
Label: Century Media
Bandcamp
Genre: Black Metal, Funeral Doom, Progressive Black Metal, Heavy Metal, Blackened Death Metal.
FFO: Emperor, Samael, Tribulation, Dimmu Borgir, Death, early Katatonia, Old Man’s Child.
Review By: Rick Farley

Labelled as necromantic black doom, Miami Florida’s ever-gestating vampiric entity Worm are set to release their newest offering Necropalace set for release February 13^th, 2026, via the mighty Century Media Records. 

Worm for those uninitiated was originally, and mostly, a black metal project formed by sole member Phantom Slaughter who released two demos, one in 2014 and the other in 2016. 2017 brought the addition of another member and a slight shift in sound. By 2021 the bands third full length album Foreverglade, they had become a quartet with a more pronounced sound rooted in death-doom with monstrous, crawling walls of swamp soaked sound. Now Necropalace signifies another shift in concept to incorporate their entire musical identity leaning further towards the cinematic black metal side with brutal shades of death-doom airiness and traditional heavy metal that creates a colossal, progressive, atmospheric world ending aura. If you need a clearer picture, think Emperor meets Samael meets Symphony X starting a death-doom band with an eclectic taste for a little dungeon synth and goth metal. Does that help? 

Coming in at a little over 62 minutes, Necropalace requires a considerable piece of your time and attention. During the course of each listen I’ve had, never once did I feel fatigued or wished this were trimmed down by even a minute. Every passage of ruinous blast beats, spidery guitars, searing classical style leads, and shrieks coincide with the low gutturals, atmospheric synths, and softer flourishes to which all seem vital to the success of this record’s entire soundscape. The horror filled symphonic black metal of title track Necropalace balanced with a menacing gloom filled middle section only to be deeply coloured with classical leads that are virtuous and could easily be on a Cacophony album. The dungeon synth leading to traditional heavy metal shredding of Halls of Weeping settles into a slow crawling chug before reaching a crushing wall of hellish chords. The ominous mix of putridly heavy and the atmospheric sets a terror-stricken tremble that’s hard to shake. The balladry of clean guitars start Blackheart delicately, but quickly shifts to a progressive metal vibe mixed with the bloodstains of 80s goth and death metal. The track feels catchy and lighter compared to the rest of the album but with no less of an emotional impact. Its moonlight textured with a vampiric horror movie quality about it that feels deeply immersive. Despite its harsh vocals, it adds a bit of relief from the grim feel of the album. Every track is as worthy as the last, a feat that’s difficult to accomplish for any album, let alone one this long. Necropalace is closed out by Witchmoon: The Infernal Masquerade, the 14-minute masterclass in dark, engaging songwriting. The track features a guest spot from the legendary Marty Friedman and is easily the best representation of everything terrifyingly vampiric and disgustingly beautiful that Worm is about. 

Produced by Arthur Rizk (Blood Incantation, Power Trip) Necropalace is a trebly, illustrious, atmospheric majesty of excess and darkness meeting in the shadowy halls of a once great castle. The soundscape is grey and cold but with grand flourishes of polished colours. Much like the songwriting, the production feels organic, with life reaching out from below the murky depths of decay. The guitars, vocals and synths feel luscious but shrieky with just enough low end to allow it to be easy on the ears. It’s traditional black metal rawness adds nastiness to the rich musicality of the songs. This is a beautifully written, well executed and well produced slab of reverb soaked doomy black metal. 

It’s only February, and Necropalace will easily be amongst the absolute best of the year. This is an easy recommend that should please many genre snobs. The guitar wizardry, the weighty doom, the nasty 90s tinged black metal, the progressive synths, it’s all there and it sounds truly triumphant. Modern day masterpiece that forges itself from the best fragments of retro metal into its own genre. Necromantic Black Doom.

(5 / 5)