hmltd - the worm - lucky number

AT RADIO NOW

Ever since their emergence in early 2016 HMLTD, avid advocates of the Gesamtkunstwerk, have always striven to give audiences more. On their wildly ambitious second album, they are realising these aims on a truly epic scale.

Created over the course of two years with a cast of 47 musicians – including a gospel choir and a 16-piece string orchestra – The Worm is less a concept album than a fully-fledged musical universe, transcending genre and medium. Set in a disorienting anachronistic version of Medieval England – as steeped in dystopian sci-fi fantasy as it is folklore and Old English mythology – it’s part political polemic, part deeply moving psychological journey.

Though always admired for their defiantly genre-agnostic approach, The Worm sees HMLTD pushing sonic experimentation to a whole new level, from dissonant free jazz riffing to vintage soul and English folk fusions to rock opera. Major musical touchpoints included Stravinsky’s ‘Rite Of Spring’, Pink Floyd and Nina Simone’s rendition of ‘Sinnerman’ and references for the world of The Worm included 14th century texts The Canterbury Tales and The Decameron, Aleksey German’s 2013 sci-fi film Hard To Be A God, Bergman’s The Seventh Seal, Tarkovsky’s Andrei Rublev and the hopeful narrative arc of 90s mecha anime series ‘Neon Genesis Evangelion’. 

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"one of few bands with a serious claim to artistic vision and sonic uniqueness” – PASTE

“The Worm is a sea change, as much as Primary Colours was for The Horrors. An album borne out of a sincere soul-searching and one of the most well-executed concept albums of recent times”. – 8/10, Loud & Quiet

“Expertly treads the line between fantasy and realism, between pretension and honesty, and wraps it all up before you’ve had time to raise an eyebrow.” - 9/10, The Line of Best Fit

“So astonishingly committed to its outlandish - basically ridiculous - ideals that it manages to successfully move, enthrall, and weird out, at so many moments.” - 4*, DIY

“runs the gamut from gospel soul to orchestral art rock in a way not heard since the glory days of, ooh, Van der Graaf Generator.” - 4*, The Times