Oh boy. This is wild and definitely one of the most unique releases of the year I’ve heard, if not the last few years.
“Peasant metal”? “Medieval Avant-Metal”? “Hovel-core”?
I’m not sure what to call this: the brainchild of David Monks from the 2000s Canadian indie rock band Tokyo Police Club, here under the guise and fully in character at all times as ‘Worm Chewer’, a lowly peasant with big dreams and a bigger destiny. All started from a viral TikTok character Monks started…Ii think.
Told as a 22-part tale, with about half of them being small vignettes and skits pushing the story of Worm Chewer’s uprising against the evil kingdom, wicker siege engines, and a stolen ungulate. Musically, this is a hard one to pin down. It’s a little Jaldaboath (and at times The Meads of Asphodel) but not as humorous (though clearly the troupe does not take themselves seriously), or full of TV/movie references. It’s got some System of a Down skronky nu-metal weirdness, 90s grunge and alternative, Dethklok’s worldbuilding and character commitment, some Pillaging Villager‘s anthemic motifs of rebellion and uprising, some punk, and some legitimately heavy Crossover/ thrash/hardcore moments.
And as I mentioned, it’s all fully costumed and medieval instrument-laden (this is the first breakdown I’ve heard with a lute/lyre ever) and even has some Gregorian chants. These guys commit to the bit for sure, with a Monty Python and the Holy Grail and A Knight’s Tale vibe.
As I said, the many vignettes (or ‘scrolls’) push the story along with the tale of Worm Chewer’s rise to power and the nefarious forces he battles. But the actual songs are what’s surprising here — there are some damn solid metal riffs and moments here. I don’t know Monk’s history with metal, and I’ve never heard Tokyo Police Club, but he delivers some super fun moments here, both metal and, as expected, folky/medieval.
After the epic choral intro of “Peasant Rising” and its chuggy build and jig, we get the jumpdafuckup-meets-medieval nu-metal chug of “Peasant Pit” and the punky power chords of “Helm Yeah”, which also has so much going on, you sort of need to hear it; Sludge, doom, techno, choirs—it’s bonkers.
“The Ballad of Sir Gregory” could be a 90s alternative song you’d hear from Taproot or Alice in Chains, while the proto-medieval thrash of “Siege Proof Hovel” has some really nice chunky riffs and even some more extreme black-ish metal vocals.
Speaking of black metal, the album’s longest track, “Dungeon Song” (where our hero is, you guessed it, thrown in a dungeon), actually has a pretty impressive black metal/crust blast beat to start the song, which then takes so many stylistic shifts and turns that it’s hard to keep track of.
One of the album’s standouts is “The Fall”, which starts with an additively delicate choral refrain and acoustics before the catchy little opening moments devolve into a fairly extreme angular number, and then the Helmet-ish “Farmers Armory” starts the album’s back end and narrative and conclusion, with the moody “Blight!”, choral”Heretic” and, as I mentioned, wicker siege engines, with “Wickermech”, a lumbering, doomy sludgy number.
The album ends on a cliffhanger as Worm Chewer’s beloved goat is stolen (“Return the Goat”), and more blackish metal moments and lumbering nu metal (including a rap break) collide to continue bringing some surprisingly real metal credibility to the whole effort, and I kinda want the sequel to get here to see the further adventures of Worm Chewer, and if he gets his goat back.
