Wormrot, a grindcore band from Singapore, released a highly anticipated and brain shattering album just over a year ago: “Hiss”. This album is their fourth full length release since forming in 2012, and it was released in June, 2022 under Earache Records.
The band gained fame when performing in France because of a fan, a literal goat named Biquette, that would appear to enjoy their shows at the farm venue while they played (article with a video of Biquette).
At the time of the release of “Hiss”, Wormrot was made up of Arif (vocals), Rasyid (guitar, bass, songwriting), Vijesh (drums/ percussion) and a guest on this album was Myra Choo (violin). All this info was taken from Metal Archives.
“Hiss” is loud, percussive, invasive, violent and a lot of fun if you’re into grindcore or into trying to discover why the hardcore scene is attractive to so many people. So, come along with me as I take a weird look into this Wormrot release.
Now for the album dive – “Hiss”:
I will be writing about these tracks a little differently from previous album reviews because the horror and grime that exudes from Wormrot in this album needs a different way of experiencing it, so this is what I came up with. It might help to listen along to the tracks as you read.
A growl from deep within your body escapes your mouth. You have to let something out. It’s going to be filled with anger, pent up hate from the things that keep you in place. A speedy, barely restrained guitar and drums punch you forward. You’re fighting with your skull pounding to take another step in the right direction. Dissuaded. Dissuaded again. Take your anger out on something. Someone. Maybe it’s the person next to you. They probably didn’t deserve it, but you’ve been pushed this far and this is the explosion you’ve got to release.
Immediate, murderous intent from drums spew forth into the air currents surrounding you and you’re just hammered away into a noisy headspace with no room to think. The world blurs by you as you spin round and round and round again trying to gain control of your breathing, your footing, your head. It’s all slipping away, then the chorus comes and it’s a little bit of respite until you’re launched again into violence and gnarly guitar riffs.
A weird urchin-like whisper surrounds your head. The drum beats are fast, but measured. The guitar slows like a Tuesday brunch shift, but we’re swept away again into death measured by the pile of growing fear, anxiety and number of cigarette butts littering the ground. The voices, they aren’t really there (but then again they might be), whisper, whisper, whisper then screech. The track ends with a heavy-metal fade out into the ether.
My personal favorite track: violin screams from the heavens, the hells and most certainly humanity. It tapers off then rushes back into a rigid, quick tempo. There are no vocals on this track. Purely instrumental madness trying to get under your skin where the bugs and blood live.
Oxygen is escaping the atmosphere at an alarming rate. We’re suffocating and drowning on land. We can’t escape our fate. We can’t escape death. Who’s going to die next and leave enough oxygen for the next few to live just a breath or two longer? Violence oozes form the pores as everyone tries their hand at murder and harm for one more greedy breath of a destroyed, polluted air.
Finale:
I find “Hiss” to be masterful. Wormrot’s earlier full-length releases like “Voices” are fantastic to listen to as well, but this album brings out how much knowledge and talent this band has. It’s a deadly combination of fast and violence with great diversity in the tracks too. If more grindcore becomes this or is influenced by it, fans are in for a treat and many unforgettable mosh pits.
Icky-natured and still beautiful, “Hiss” presents us with distrust, unforgiving human attributes, hate, corruption of power and more if you’re willing to go looking for it. I cannot get enough of this album. I’m very glad I had the chance to talk about it here, so I hope to spread the love and appreciation I’ve nurtured in it.
On Friday October 6, for the 3rd year running WKNC will be participating in World College Radio Day by holding a 24 hour “lock in” in the station. Every hour will feature a live DJ in both studios celebrating the most important day of the year for a college radio station. The production room will also host a livestream where DJs will be playing games, making tierlists, showing powerpoints, and much more. The full schedule is below:
HD-1
timeslot
dj name
show name
description
12:00 AM
scrimble
scrimble’s bad music hour
1:00 AM
justintime & zen
In a Timely Manner
the two jazz dj’s do a collaborative set
2:00 AM
dj fives
autumn summer winter fall
weapon-themed set
3:00 AM
dj independent fact checkers + valkerie
inhouse pharmacy
dj independent fact checkers: 2013 monstercat valkerie: 2012 dubstep
4:00 AM
twerp
p2p connection
vaporwave
5:00 AM
Erik++
Regular Point
Acid/Techno – livemixing down to b2b!
6:00 AM
dj mithrax
sounds of space junk
mix of rock/spooky music cuz october
7:00 AM
little brown bat & streya
colombianas en raleigh
colombian salsa & tropical
8:00 AM
space cadet
modern girl
9:00 AM
dj beans
froot loops
10:00 AM
claymore
claynation
all over set
11:00 AM
maddog
the doghouse
Wes Anderson themed set! Waaaa 😀
12:00 PM
KONDE
The KONDE Pop-up Hour (daytime)
Jazz, Funk, Soul, and some other stuff!
1:00 PM
flowers mcpowers
the flowers mcpowers hour
2:00 PM
dj hexane, scrimble
null to the front
2000s/2010s throwback indie/pop music
3:00 PM
last name utt
some songs are better than others
4:00 PM
president shrimpo & malocchio >;)
fireside chats- halloween month, the beginning
spooky stuff, post punk and the like
5:00 PM
fullmetal racket and DMC WOODSTOCK
EVIL MUSIC TO SCHEME/PLOT TO ∩ (◣_◢) ∩
drew like a dark, fucked up version of my set haha. just a glimpse into my dark twisted reality
6:00 PM
young iowa
SPOOKY MONTH PART ONE WITH YOUNG IOWA
evil stuff to start spooky month
7:00 PM
springheel jack
cockroach radio
Spooky folklore and urban legend inspired songs. Cause Springheel Jack. Get it?
8:00 PM
wizard of gore
the inferno
hard riffs that will make you kill your neighbors with hammers
9:00 PM
bel$
the beldam
muahahahahahaha
10:00 PM
chalcopyrite + apollo
blackgazemaxxing
blackgaze
11:00 PM
leksipro
iller-pilled
japanese hardcore based off chainsaw man ˚₊‧꒰ა ₍ᐢ. ̫.ᐢ₎ ໒꒱ ‧₊˚
HD-2
timeslot
dj name
show name
description
12:00 AM
dj roxy
rock candy
midnight tunes
1:00 AM
rensenware
late nite lan party
video game music of a different variety… all kinds EXCEPT rhythm game
2:00 AM
zen
the swing set 2: this time it’s personal
dog i have no idea but it’s going to be good and not jazz
3:00 AM
johnny ghost
the new and improved classic rock radio
classic rock deep cuts. just trust me
4:00 AM
auxymoron
local planetarium soundtrack
space ambient!
5:00 AM
DJ Mithrax
Sounds of Space Junk
songs that remind me of 5 am
6:00 AM
7:00 AM
minacat
two way radio
8:00 AM
Rodeo Romeo
Western Friday
Americana Central
9:00 AM
DJ Tullykinesis
Nightcore Radio
NIGHTCORE!!!!!!
10:00 AM
DJ Ocean Spray
Folk Fall
some favorite fall songs
11:00 AM
DJ Tullykinesis + rensenware
Middle school vocaloid youtube playlist..
vocaloidy
12:00 PM
DJ Hubcap
Yo Ho Ho and a Bottle of Rum
sea shanties, sea shanties, and more sea shanties (will move if slots fill up)
1:00 PM
DJ Pon-3 (will gladly move for a student shift)
Local Lunch
Join DJ Pon-3 for some of her favorite North Carolina artists.
2:00 PM
Lumkas
3:00 PM
Springheel Jack
Jack Ruins Music
Genre division is dead. So is taste. I’m the Captain now.
4:00 PM
scrimble + hexane
the scrimble space
karaoke
5:00 PM
bel$
junior high
music you wanted to forget about
6:00 PM
DJ Crush
Crush’s Yearly Allotted KPop Set
Terminal levels of k-pop girl groups
7:00 PM
rensenware + DJ Cranberry
steely dan power hour
bestie set 🙂
8:00 PM
DJ Crush
Dead Air
Ultra Spooky Fun Time ;3
9:00 PM
rensenware
in cametek we trust
tribute to the greatest rhythm game artist of all time
10:00 PM
Lead Pipe
Gettin’ Bonked
Some doom and sludge to really mess with the vibes
11:00 PM
DJ Hubcap
Sarah Bonito Extravaganza
sarah midori perry my beloved :3
Production Room
timeslot
name
activity
description
12:00 AM
my name is zach
LEGO Build Hour 😀
we build a LEGO set together for the station
1:00 AM
quaker
we write and illustrate a childrens book
2:00 AM
3:00 AM
4:00 AM
erie
board gam (chess, raleighopoly)
5:00 AM
6:00 AM
katie
😱
spooky scary games (if u want this spot u can have it lol im just puttin stuff here)
7:00 AM
erie
tier list time
including a poor little meow meow ranking
8:00 AM
andi
crochet hour
crochet or read if i’m not asleep
9:00 AM
10:00 AM
claire
Live promos
we design and record a promo for u on the spot! (if anyone wants this time slot u can have it)
11:00 AM
claire
Epic picross tournament
15×15 no live validation WHO WILL WIN
12:00 PM
claire
WKNC does hair
u want a buzzcut? 2 sleepy djs can do it
1:00 PM
erie
they see me rolling
sorting tshirts
2:00 PM
Spencer, sophia, rose
Rose Reacts
subject president shrimpo to wacky music and see her priceless reactions as her mind is expanded
3:00 PM
sophia, willow, bug
fursona commission hour
we will draw your fursona. don’t have one? we’ll make one for you
4:00 PM
Mason
WKNC Are You Smarter Than A Fifth Grader
Quizzing DJs on random trivia
5:00 PM
J
video games (?)
playing video games really poorly
6:00 PM
claire
WKNC family tree
updating the family tree i made last year!!!
7:00 PM
rose
Nixon Hour
President Shrimpo talks about 37th president of the United States Richard Milhaus Nixon
8:00 PM
sara
scrimble’s ppt night
9:00 PM
sara
scrimble’s ppt night if there are too many for 1 hour
10:00 PM
erie
application quiz
guess the application!!!!!!!!!
11:00 PM
dante
metal band logos
guess what the hell metal band logos are supposed to say
I saw Lil Yachty on his Field Trip tour at the Ritz here in Raleigh on September 25. I’ve been a big fan of Lil Yachty since I first started getting into rap so I was very excited for this, and while the opening acts left some to be desired, Yachty’s performing ability and decision to play with a live band brought a great concert experience.
This tour supports the release of Yachty’s fifth studio album: “Let’s Start Here” which was released earlier this year in January. This album was a departure from the colorful hip-hop and trap bangers with the fun, yet cutting rap flows Lil Yachty was known for, taking a psychedelic, alternative approach, and making this his first album that didn’t feature rap or trap as a forefront.
If you aren’t familiar with Lil Yachty, he’s a 26 year old rapper, singer, songwriter, and actor from Atlanta, Georgia. He first saw the limelight in 2016 through his viral hits “One Night” and “Minnesota” which both appeared on his first mixtape “Lil Boat.” That same year he would go on to collaborate with singer DRAM on his song “Broccoli,” as well as with singer Kyle on his song “ISpy,” both of which have since gone multi-platinum. These songs were impossible to escape back then so it is very possible that you’ve heard Lil Yachty’s voice at least once before.
On this tour Lil Yachty was supported by members of his own label “Concrete Boys,” these members being: Draft Day, Dc2Trill, Karrahbooo, and Camo. All of these artists are based in Atlanta, Georgia and primarily make trap music. The North American leg of the tour was also supported by Nick Hakim, an alternative soul artist who helped with some production on “Let’s Start Here.”
The crowd at the concert was primarily composed of teenagers from what I could tell, which makes sense judging by Lil Yachty’s signature, auto-tune driven, trap sound is very popular amongst younger fans of rap and hip-hop. It’s a little weird sometimes looking around and realizing I am probably above the average age of the crowd, especially seeing as I would feel the inverse growing up going to shows in high school.
The show started with a short DJ mix that came through the house speakers (I couldn’t see the DJ if they were on stage at all). It was a very confusing experience because the house speakers that were playing the music at an ambient volume as people were arriving were turned up, and the DJ mix started, but when the first Concrete Boys member came out, the same speakers were being used, and it was a very disorienting experience, making the set harder to enjoy. It was also immediately apparent that the mixing in this first set was not very good.
All four members (that aren’t Lil Yachty) performed their own solo songs, doing 1-4 tracks each. My favorite of these was Draft Day performing a song by Lil Yachty in which he features on prominently, titled “Demon Time” and Camo performing “SWAP HER BIRK.” If I were to pick my favorite part of the set, it was the energy of the performers, as you could really tell they were having fun, even if the use of backing tracks and poor mixing threw me off sometimes.
There were attempts at crowd work, some effective, some not, and towards the end of the set, the rappers threw shirts into the crowd and assured the crowd they would be present at the merch table after the show for meeting and greeting. Also, I should mention that there wasn’t really a visual component to this set outside of the main screen displaying the word “CONCRETE” where every letter was a different font from an established design (like the use of the Internet Explorer logo for e) which I thought was pretty cool.
Next was Nick Hakim. Nick Hakim was joined by an acoustic guitarist, a bassist, and a backing track that included drums and synths. I would describe Nick Hakim’s music as indie soul and alt r&b, and it was a very mellow and soulful set. Nick Hakim is a singer and though the vocal mix on specifically his mic (not the backup vocalists) was a little blown out at times, you could tell he was a very thorough and interesting vocalist. My favorite song of theirs was “Vertigo.”
Unfortunately, the crowd didn’t seem to really care for Nick Hakim, some pockets of the crowd chanting for Lil Yachty at some points, while other people in the crowd were holding up their phone displaying a stream of the current football game or a mobile app or something to display their boredom. This was pretty upsetting to me because I think it’s important to respect the performers, but I guess I can’t expect much from people who have probably not been to that many concerts before. Visually, this set just took use of the main screen by displaying two static instances of “NICK HAKIM.” Overall a pretty cool set, I just wish the crowd enjoyed it more.
Finally, there was Lil Yachty’s set. The set began with some super cool visuals on the big screen as the band walked on the stage, and this lasted for about a minute. Then, the band began the set with my personal favorite song from “Let’s Start Here” “drive ME crazy!” complete with a female vocalist doing the first verse and chorus of the song, leading into Yachty finally coming out and singing his part of the song (the second verse and the breakdown at the end). From there I think he did a little banter and then went into some of the other more popular and colorful songs from the album like “the ride-” and “pRETTy” The live renditions of these songs blew the album versions out of the water in my opinion and I really enjoyed the visuals in this first segment.
One stand out part of this segment was the band covering “In The Air Tonight” by Phil Collins. This came as a surprise to me and it sounded amazing.
After a few tracks with the live band, Yachty worked the crowd a bit, and then gave them what I could tell they were there for: The bangers. Yachty did a pretty wide selection of his hits, starting with songs off his most recent rap ep “Slide” in “SOLO STEPPIN CRETE BOY” and the title track. He then went back to back with his most popular solo songs like “Split/Whole Time” (a personal favorite of mine), a tribute to Juice Wrld in his song “Yacht Club” from his album “Nuthin 2 Prove” which prominently features the artist, and songs like “NBAYOUNGBOAT” and “Flex Up” which feature abrasive, high tempo production, which the crowd loved.
Yachty is a great performer both in terms of his stage presence and his vocal performance. It is common to see rappers just use backtracks with the original vocals of the song fully intact, and this wasn’t the case with any of Yachty’s rap songs in his set. He was really rapping, which takes practice and breath control. This brought a tangible air of passion and energy to this section of the set.
From there Yachty did some of his older hits, like his classic viral hit “Minnesota” and even his feature verses on the multi-platinum tracks with DRAM and Kyle.
Yachty ended this segment of the set with his current hottest track “Strike (Holster)” into a crowd focused version of the song that put him on the map from the very beginning “One Night” I should also mention that he did not shy away from performing his viral hit from last year “Poland”
From there he brought out his band once again for the last segment of the show with more songs from “Let’s Start Here” with tracks “IVE OFFICIALLY LOST ViSiON” “THE zone~” and “WE SAW THE SUN” ending the set with a very climatic conclusion in “the BLACK seminole.”
Yachty’s set overall was stunning at best and pretty good at worst. There were some lulls here and there but the live band stole the show in my opinion. Some of me feels like he should’ve leaned into the use of a live band and maybe adapted some of his songs not found on “Let’s Start Here” into live versions with live instrumentation, and while that decision can have some hit-or-miss results in my opinion, I think it would’ve made a lot of sense here. Though all three segments of his set were great, it felt fragmented. I feel like it would’ve flowed a bit better if he started with the bangers and then did the entire second half of the set with the live band, but that’s just me.
Overall, I had a fun time seeing Lil Yachty at this show. That’s another one off my list of artists I grew up as a fan of that I’ve seen in concert! My fingers are still crossed in hopes of seeing Childish Gambino someday.