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Garden of Worm Stream “Summer’s Isle Including Caravan” from New Album Idle Stones

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Tampere, Finland, trio Garden of Worm will release their second album, Idle Stones (review here), via Svart Records on March 6. It is a much different sort of outing than their 2010 self-titled Shadow Kingdom debut (review here), which was gruffer in its tone and more traditional overall, and is comprised of four tracks split easily into two vinyl sides, each comprised of a shorter and a longer piece, totaling about 42 minutes. The focus this time around seems to be more geared toward space than distorted riffing, and while Idle Stones bears considerable weight tonally and emotionally, it’s the latter that gives opener “Fleeting are the Days of Man” (5:35), “Summer’s Isle” (10:13), “Desertshore” (7:01) and “The Sleeper Including Being is More than Life” (19:49) their full breadth. Five years after an impressive debut, Garden of Worm breathe life into a staid sound and embark on engaging explorations of form that feel not hindered by genre constraints but enhanced by them. You can’t know which lines to cross without first knowing where they are.

Today I have the extreme pleasure of hosting “Summer’s Isle Including Caravan” for streaming ahead of the LP’s release. As the title-hints, it’s a two-parter, and what impresses most about it is the flow from one segment to the next. Garden of Worm — guitarist/vocalist EJ Taipale, bassist/vocalist SJ Harju and drummer JM Suvanto — set up a strong sense of atmosphere throughout Idle Stones‘ first three songs, and the last one which follows makes the most of the spaciousness provided. Following a morose, understated opening that’s deceptively heavy, TaipaleHarju and Suvanto move into a wash of noise that unfolds gradually, gracefully, into a pulsating space rock jam, a psychedelic freakout emerging like a multicolored mushroom from a forest floor. The sound swells and consumes, but it’s not the end.

Over on side B, the dual-vocal thrust of “Desertshore” sets the table for 20-minute closer “The Sleeper Including Being is More than Living” which expands the ideas of “Summer’s Isle Including Caravan” even further, moving from doomly vibing into a psych jam that, just before the 17-minute mark, drops out and Suvanto‘s ride cymbal eases the way back into a kind of epilogue reprise of the song’s earlier melancholy, this time using it as the launch point for what becomes a kind of summary of the piece in its entirety — another mini-freakout building to a head and is brought to a minimalist, contemplative conclusion. It makes a worthy focal point for Idle Stones, but I won’t take away from the achievement of the album as a whole either, whether it’s the cohesive introduction the album is given on “Fleeting are the Days of Man” or the subtle ritualism in “Summer’s Isle Including Caravan” that, as a preface to the closer, boldly rips itself to shreds in a more concise fit of improv-sounding noise. There are those who see doom and heavy rock like church and state, as though they couldn’t or shouldn’t occupy the same ideals. Garden of Worm cut to the root influence and create something of their own from it that is neither and both at the same time, and their command and poise as Idle Stones plays out its progressive sprawl is not to be discounted.

Please find “Summer’s Isle Including Caravan” on the player below, followed by some PR wire background, and enjoy:

GARDEN OF WORM is a trio operating in Tampere, Finland. Having played progressive rock in various groups, in 2003 the group decided it was time to play simple & basic doom metal. Thus the WORM was born. After several releases on several metal labels, the latest being the successful album for Shadow Kingdom Records (2010), the band went into hibernation.

The new album Idle Stones is a product of this long period of quiet life. After the ambitious debut full length the band were unsure for a time regarding the direction their art would take next. Slowly the doomier, grimmer material allowed improvisation to creep in, and the entire work has a newfound sense of spontaneity.

In 2014 GOW is a different beast than the creature of the early days. The band sounds more inspired and relaxed than ever. The doom metal base is still present, but there’s also psychedelic warmness to the sound as well as freedom, like witnessed in the work of improvising rock units such as AMON DÜÜL (II) and TRÄD GRÄS & STENAR.
The freedom also adds to the intensity of the live performances – even though there are always composed songs in the set, the improvisational passages keep the band focused on the moment. Anything can happen.

Garden of Worm on Thee Facebooks

Svart Records

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