The Oldest House — A Worm Through Time

Divided into five songs, A Worm Through Time is the debut EP from The Oldest House, the solo project of A.M., lead singer of Aversio Humanitatis. Four of the five tracks are what one might expect from the present company: punishing, growling vocals set to variable speeds of sludgey metal. 

The lone exception to this formula, "Interdimensional Mold", is a surprising bit of ambient electronica, a much-needed respite between A.M.'s guttural yowls, slicing between the browbeating common to the genre. According to the singer, the EP should be understood as a single work, split into component parts like a classical composition or symphony, which helps put the propulsive thrust of A Worm Through Time into greater focus, even if the respective parts and source material feel relatively worn.

Listeners more attuned to the specific attributes of the doom/sludge metal genre might disagree, but the specific anagram that is A Worm Through Time is certainly one we know, so there is little that could be called pathbreaking or new. While that might sound unnecessarily derisive, it is meant to highlight what is the real strength of this compact work, its unique force or sonic momentum. A longer, more involved release might have softened the blow of this EP's will to form, honed as it is to a razor-sharp point. Other than the aforementioned ambient interlude, there is little room to breathe over the course of the 25 minutes that make up A Worm Through Time, proving the metal adage that something must display proof of life before it is finally put to rest. The Oldest House manages both sides of the equation with the precision of a seasoned hitman.

Fans of Aversio Humanitatis, and doom more generally, will find much to appreciate on A Worm Through Time, despite its familiar parlance. 25 minutes is a perfectly digestible length for such a work, and more within the darker regions of the metal genre could take a page out of this unholy book.