WORMWOOD GETS A DOSE OF SKEPTICISM!

The redoubtable OCTOPI MILLS took a trip to the dark and somber forests of Finland to meet with one of that country's most revered exports, the funeral doom metal pioneers SKEPTICISM! More specifically, he spoke with keyboardist EERO POYRY about the band's meticulous method of putting an album together, including their latest gloomy epic "Companion". He also asks about the influence of their home country on their music and also the influence of the supernatural. This band has been around for almost 30 years and helped create a unique style of music, so join Eero and Octopi HERE for their discussion.

And as always, we have an assortment of metal reviews for your kind attention in the esteemed Torture Chamber...

HATE "Rugia"

PRAY U PREY "The Omega Kill"

ANOMALY "Planet Storm"

TENTATION "Les Berceaux Des Dieux"

GUS G. "Quantum Leap"

NECRONAUTICAL "Slain In The Spirit"

MAKE CONTACT WITH WITHERING SOUL!

Chicago can always be counted on to produce quality metal bands and here Wormwood introduces you to another one: WITHERING SOUL! These dudes have been plying their brand of melodic death/black metal for quite some time now, but they have reached their apex with newest offering "Last Contact". Well, I made "first contact" with guitarist/vocalist/keyboardist/founder CHRISTOPHER to get the back story on the band and their new album. He mentioned up and coming new bands to keep an eye on, how the band has evolved over the years and the meaning underlying "Last Contact". You can sample the rest of the tantalizing chat HERE!

Some news to report! I've secured an interview with long-running Norwegian death masters BLOOD RED THRONE, who have just made their debut on the mighty Nuclear Blast label! This is the second time we've spoken to them, but it's been over 10 years since our last chat. Also, DARK STARR has grabbed our second interview with guitar wizard CLARK COLBORN, whose roots go back a long way in our local Rockford area. Clark always has a lot to say, so this one will be pretty cool

We've got a massive oversize edition of the Torture Chamber to torment you with this time around...

THYRFING "Vanagandr"

WITHERING SOUL "Last Contact"

BRAINSTORM "Wall of Skulls"

SCEPTOR "Rise To the Light"

CYRAX "Experiences"

OSSUARY "Addicted to Human Flesh"

MORBID MESSIAH "Disgorged In the Coffin"

SIDEREAN "Lost on Void's Horizon"

SUN OF THE SUNS "TIIT"

WE BLOW UP WORMWOOD WITH AEW DYNAMITE!

Well, sports fans, it's been many a year since we've had a major pro wrestling article at Wormwood, but the drought is over! Maybe it lasted so long because there wasn't that much to talk about. But that has changed with the arrival of ALL ELITE WRESTLING. This new major promotion has taken the grunt n' groan world by storm with a combination of classic veterans, young phenoms and a more violent and athletic brand of competition. Recently I got to see first hand just what they were about when they visited suburban Chicago to tape their national televised program AEW DYNAMITE. It was a major production with names like C.M. PUNK, STING, KENNY OMEGA and CHRISTIAN CAGE on the card. I give a blow by blow description of the show HERE...lace up your boots and get your ass in the ring!

You will find some fairly spicy opinions in this week's Torture Chamber lineup. Read on and find out more...

RIVERS OF NIHIL "The Work"

CARCASS "Torn Arteries"

BLACK MASS "Feast At The Forbidden Tree"

BIZARRE "Invocation Codex"

WORMWITCH "Wolf Hex"

MOON ORACLE "Muse of the Nightside"

GO SLOW WITH THE SLOMATICS!

The enchanting Emerald Isle of Ireland is known for its love of music. But not particularly for a lot of brain-crushing psychedelic doom metal. Enter THE SLOMATICS! This trio is devoted all things low, slow and grooving. The esteemed LORD RANDALL recently hopped a rainbow to Ireland and spoke to SLOMATICS main man DAVID MAJURY. This gentleman had a lot to say about his love of sci fi author PHILIP K. DICK, his love of the immersive total album experience in an age of 5 second digital attention spans and the slow but welcome return of live music festivals. Sample more of his wisdom at THIS LINK...

This week we've got an extra big Torture Chamber session for you, if you can take it...

MADROST "Charring the Rotting Earth"

TOXIC RUIN "Nightmare Eclipse"

KRYPTOS "Force of Danger"

THE SLOW DEATH "Siege"

LOW FLYING HAWKS "Fuyu"

HELLCRASH "Krvcifix Invertor"

LOWER 13 "Embrace The Unknown"

SCARECROW (FI) "Splatterpunk"

VESSEL "Behind the Walls" EP

This week, I take a trip to the outskirts of Atlanta,, Georgia to meet up with one of the most distinctive voices in American extreme metal...WITHERED. I had the pleasure of speaking to guiding light MIKE THOMPSON years ago, which you can find in the Archives, but a lot of water has gone under the bridge since then. The band's latest album "Verloren" (German for "lost") is perhaps their darkest yet most introspective effort yet. Mr. Thompson is a very eloquent speaker for his band and the interview is well worth your time. Sample it HERE...

Some upcoming items...THERON MOORE has secured a chat with Milwaukee sci-fi death metal band ANOMALY, which would make a great companion to my forthcoming talk with the similarly cosmic ZETAR! THE GREAT SUN JESTER tells me he is working on a tribute to the late great lead singer of TROUBLE, ERIC WAGNER, who sadly passed earlier in the year. My live report on a TV taping of the super-hot AEW Dynamite is just about done...this will be our first wrestling-themed article in quite a while. More is in the works...news as things become more certain.

We've got some pretty dark visitors to the Wormwood Torture Chamber this week...

HOUR OF 13 "Black Magick Rites"

GNOSIS "Omens From The Dead Realm"

CROWNE "Kings In the North"

NUNSLAUGHTER "Red Is The Color of Ripping Death"

PORTRAIT "At One With None"

REBEL PRIEST "Lost In Tokyo" EP

GRAVEYARD SHIFTERS "Head Turns First, Eyes Follow" EP

WELCOME TO WORMWOOD CHRONICLES 2.0!

Greetings, humanoids, and welcome back to Wormwood Laboratories! As you can see, we've been busy while you've gone! Many nights of torturous toil have gone into the rebirth of this website, which has endured for 20+ years of extremity and escapades! If this is the first time you've laid eyes on the Weird World of Wormwood, welcome! We are a website that specializes in underground music (mostly but not always of the metal variety), cult film, paranormal weirdness and the occasional dip into pro wrestling, conventions and off the wall opinion. It's gnarly, it's rough around the edges, but hell, somebody must like it or it wouldn't have lasted 21 years!

You can find the 5000 plus album reviews, 600 plus interviews, tons of film articles, concert reviews and delvings into the paranormal at the WORMWOOD ARCHIVE LINK, where our past is immortalized for all time! But after so long in our old format, it's a breath of freshly rotten air to have this new, streamlined look. We plan on filling this new site with all sorts of cool stuff, including interviews with NUNSLAUGHTER, WITHERED, etc., etc. as well as tons of album reviews in our notorious Torture Chamber. At the top right you will see links for the Interview and Torture Chamber sections, while the "More" heading will reveal other departments! We plan on wasting no time filling up all of these sections.

Keep an eye here every week, as we will keep you up to date on the latest depravity! STAY SICK, WORM-FIENDS!

THE NEW AGE OF WORMWOOD STARTS WITH NUNSLAUGHTER!

We kick off the new version of Wormwood with a blast of unholy hellfire straight out of Cleveland! The nefarious NUNSLAUGHTER pays us a visit...more specifically, I chat to DON OF THE DEAD! Don fills me in on this diabolical institution and the transition they had to make after the tragic passing of long time drummer JIM SADIST! They also have a new album out "Red Is the Color of Ripping Death" which they can give us the lowdown on! Throw your cross away and join us for the chat HERE!

Coming up soon will be my talk with Wisconsin's rising thrash stars TOXIC RUIN and also an in-depth look at the cult science fiction film "Creation of the Humanoids"! Lots more is coming soon so stay tuned. You can click on the Archive link above to access over 20 years of Wormwood craziness!

And yes, the ever-lovin' TORTURE CHAMBER is also back, with a massive dump of metallic goodness for you to peruse...

DARKTHRONE "Eternal Hails"

TOMBSTONER "Victims of Vile Torture"

CRYPTA "Echoes of the Soul"

HEAVY WATER "Red Brick City"

MONSTER MAGNET "A Better Dystopia"

THY CATAFALQUE "Vadak"

DOMINATION CAMPAIGN "Onward to Glory"

CLARK COLBORN "Obscurotica"

SKEPTICISM "Companion"

PREPARE TO ENTER A TOXIC RUIN!

Sheboygan, Wisconsin! The home of freshwater surfing and bratwurst. And now also the home of TOXIC RUIN! This energetic young thrash/death metal band calls the city on the lake home and they've just unleashed their second album, "Nightmare Eclipse". With the right blend of ferocity and technicality, this sucker shows they are worthy to join the next level of underground metal supremacy. A fitting time for us to hook up with drummer DAVE MILLER, who gives us an enthusiastic run-down of all things TOXIC-related. Put your hazmat suit on and read more HERE...

Lots of cool things swirling around at the updated Wormwood Chronicles. Look out for a chat with long running Atlanta sludge metallers WITHERED coming up very soon. Other bands soon to appear here are Chicago's black/death warriors WITHERING SOUL, Irish doom merchants SLOMATICS and Star Trek obsessed death metallers ZETAR! We also have a look at the cult sci fi classic "Creation of the Humanoids" and for the first time in a long time, we're getting a new wrestling article in "Over the Top Rope", dealing with my recent trip to a taping of AEW Dynamite in Chicago. As always, lots of other stuff in the works...

And no, we haven't forgotten about this week's Torture Chamber...here we go!

SPACE CHASER "Give Us Life"

WITHERED "Verloren"

HINSIDES "Under Betlehems Brinnande Stjarna"

DEE SNIDER "Leave A Scar"

AZIOLA CRY "The Ironic Divide"

ASHEN "Godless Oath"

HUMAN...OR HUMANOID? FIND OUT WITH WORMWOOD...

This week, Wormwood journeys to a post-atomic dystopia to examine one of the strangest movies ever made...1962's "Creation of the Humanoids"! This odd low budget film takes place after a devastating atomic war when mankind is on the verge of extinction. Despite that, he's created a race of humanoid robots to perform labor for him. The question is, are the robots really serving mankind...or are they out to replace it? It's the first Philm Phreaks article for the new age of Wormwood...check it out HERE!

The devious brain of Dr. Mality is already looking ahead to the next freaky film article here...I can tell you that this time we're hitting the dusty highways of the desert Southwest in search of "WEREWOLVES ON WHEELS"...

This week's Torture Chamber brings us classic rock, a father-son German metal team up and one of the best thrash records in many years...

DIRKSCHNEIDER & THE OLD GANG "Arising"

ENFORCED "Kill Grid"

VENEFIXION "A Sigh From Below"

MORDRED "The Dark Parade"

CACTUS "Tightrope"

FELL HARVEST "Pale Light In A Dying World"