If you add Sweden to any music genre, you’re going to get melody and technical expertise. Even extreme metal. Take for instance Black/Folk Metal. You would think a music accented by insidious atmospheric overtones, demonic vocals, and distortion layered upon dissonance would be an anathema to most hearing creatures. Nope. Just add some Sweden. Which leads me to WORMWOOD, a Black Metal enigma from Stockholm. They formed ten years ago and have released one EP and four full lengths. Their latest LP, “The Star,” was released on May 31, 2024 via Black Lodge Records.

Thematically, “The Star” is a cold slab of cosmic horror. It is the last installment of a trilogy which focuses on death—this time total cosmic collapse. The album is 7 tracks long and taps out at exactly 47 minutes. I can’t believe the number of tracks, nor the runtime, are a coincidence. Forty-seven typically signifies a spiritual awakening. The twist here would suggest the awakening comes at the hands of the demise of the universe. In death there is birth. Or the 7 tracks and 47 minutes could just be a coincidence, which is even better.

When I first approached this album, I didn’t realize I was picking up the last part of a trilogy. I was therefore understandably put off by the generic album title. “The Star” as a title is fairly non-descript, giving the impression of things like hope and joy and renewal. When you draw the Star card in Tarot, for instance, it pretty much signifies joy and unicorns. As I took a good look at the cover, my first impression started to erode, and I got the feeling something sinister was afoot. The cover depicts a cabin-in-the-woods scene with a weathered man watching out of the window as some cosmic terror descends and humans scramble in fear. At the man’s elbow lies open a book ominously entitled “Suffer Existence” (the title of track 6).

Actually listening to the album, of course, put the whole mystery to rest. As the narrative unspools, the album’s baleful theme becomes evident. The once innocent sounding “The Star” is less a fable of hope and more a tale of existential woe. It seems to ask: Why all the strife, the love, the suffering, the everything that is existence if in the end it is all just obliterated in one uncaring swoop?

So, thematically the album set me on my heels and made me think. Which is always a good quality in an album. But “The Star” is more than just an interesting narrative. The storyline and lyrics are delivered in a great big black tarp of Melodic Black, Atmospheric, and Folk Metal. I’m not even going to try to list standout tracks. Each track is a multifaceted, richly carpeted array of compositional fluxes and musical textures. The entire album is just stunning. Track to track, minute by minute. I loved the evil tremolo riffs, the haunting solos, the choral flourishes, the acoustic breaks as crisp as glacial water, the warbling synths, just the whole sweeping vibe of the album.

“The Star” by WORMWOOD is one of my favorite albums of the year thus far. My recommendation: You can start with their 2019 “Nattarvet” and move forward through their 2021 “Arkivet” before checking out “The Star” or you can do it backassswards like me—either way, “The Star” is highly recommended.