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The Worm

by HMLTD

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lapislantern
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lapislantern It's become a bit of a ritual for me to listen to this whenever I'm leaving home on the train (which is pretty often). Every time I'm struck by the immersion, the storytelling, the sheer range... Favorite track: Saddest Worm Ever.
_futant
_futant thumbnail
_futant It's my favourite album in a long time... hard to pick a track. Saddest Worm Ever maybe? The Worm? Wyrmlands? They're the obvious choices. But the sad songs have me crying and the ending has me on my knees praying to a god I don't believe in. I love the concept, I love the callbacks to War of the Worlds and Nina Simone, I just love it. I also love its brevity - means listening twice through always happens. EAT EAT EAT EAT EAT EAT EAT EAT FLESH FLESH FLESH FLESH FLESH FLESH FLESH FLESH
bowman
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bowman such a cool concept for an album and so well executed love love love Favorite track: Past Life (Sinnerman's Song).
jay
jay thumbnail
jay this new hmltd album is immaculate, love the change in direction: swapping out the bombast and eclecticism of their debut for striking and winding fantasy that fully draws u in Favorite track: The End Is Now.
roengli
roengli thumbnail
roengli An extraordinary achievement, the standard by which future concept albums will be judged. Favorite track: Wyrmlands.
PDD
PDD thumbnail
PDD A musical for the mind -- brilliant. Favorite track: Wyrmlands.
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  • Record/Vinyl + Digital Album

    With gatefold sleeve and lyric insert. Limited to 1000 copies worldwide.

    Includes unlimited streaming of The Worm via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
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    edition of 1000  53 remaining
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  • Record/Vinyl + Digital Album

    With gatefold sleeve and lyric insert

    Includes unlimited streaming of The Worm via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
    ships out within 5 days
    Purchasable with gift card

      £23 GBP or more 

     

  • Record/Vinyl + Digital Album

    With gatefold sleeve and lyric insert.

    Includes unlimited streaming of The Worm via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
    ships out within 5 days
    Purchasable with gift card

      £20 GBP or more 

     

  • Compact Disc (CD) + Digital Album

    Gatefold sleeve

    Includes unlimited streaming of The Worm via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
    ships out within 10 days
    Purchasable with gift card

      £10 GBP or more 

     

  • Streaming + Download

    Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
    Purchasable with gift card

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1.
Worm's Dream 01:13
Lifeless, strung out On the pavement I had only Just killed The worm London was a Hollowed bombshell Children playing In the rubble Where the Worm had Thrown up its tail People crawled out In their millions From the belly Of the pink thing They had dreamt a Way to survive
2.
Wyrmlands 03:51
The Worm is here! ~ This is Wyrmlands Population: you Worm Country This time I know things are ‘gonna get bad Grab the women, make them make fast To the tunnels with the children and the rats This time I know things are ‘gonna be worse Than the last time when they caught us At St. Pancras, with our pants down, acting ‘sus Remy talked just like the others And Tommy was the undercover Some men are strong, some men are weak The more they look, the less they see: Livestock hanging from the cranes Dancing dogs that talk like men Talking of their higher needs A woman’s touch, a vulture’s beak I am god, a child Cut by his own hands With a scythe of rib From the great Worm of our lands This is Wyrmlands! The ground just fell beneath my feet And there I was, amongst the worms I watched them as they fucked each other In the mud And it felt just like looking in the mirror For the first time in my life I knew what I was and I cried Why am I pink?! Why am I blind?! Why do I writhe inside this body?! Oh! But if my childhood me Would bear a grudge For the man I grew up to be Kill him - he knows too much This is Wyrmlands motherfucker! And we don’t do that shit round here Not back in Wyrmlands - Whisht! Lads, haad yor gobs An Aa'll tell ye's aall an aaful story Whisht! Lads, haad yor gobs An' Aa'll tell ye 'boot the Worm
3.
I was born in the War of the Worms At the fall of the vertebrate government There were men burning holes in the earth And they woke up the god in the sediment Hey, hey hey! I fade away! And when it rains - That’s when the King comes up to ground And when the earth begins to shake! We all know the End Is Now! There’s a fire in this house It’s burning down Leave without a sound There’s a fire in this house Burn me - Inside Out! I was lost, I was based, out of space Being chased by the men in the countryside - That’s life - You were torn, carving holes in your side Try’na find a way to cut out the parasite Hey, hey hey! And we were betrayed - By the men who traded spines To join the Worm King’s cavalcade The End Is Now There’s a fire in this house It’s burning down Leave without a sound There’s a fire in this house Burn me inside out! This is not your world! Yeah! Come on - Dream! Yeah! Come on - dream! Dream another world! Cos I’m a - Wormchild! Let me tell you about how I became.. Yeah!
4.
Days 04:29
Days Haven’t left the bed in weeks Every time I fall asleep I only see your face Haven’t seen your face in years Every time I reach for you It disappears Seasons come and die Today the sun shines through my window blinds Tomorrow it will rise As surely as you will forget me And when it rains I waste away Praying you won’t leave me in the morning Promised I would learn to let you go in time I can’t let you walk away I can’t watch you fall away And so I feed your ghost Talking in my sleep I don’t want to face the days I don't want to ever wake And so I feed your ghost Keep it close to me It’s you, it’s you, it’s you It’s you, you, it’s you Haunt me ‘til my dying days Have I told you, darling - You’re the ghost I fear the most Stay and never leave I remember yesterday Torquay Harbour in the rain But all the while the thing Was growing deep in me It’s eating me, Still eating me No tomorrow, no tomorrow Not today
5.
Power gets you high! Power gets you high! Power gets you high! Power gets you high! Such a small affair… Like a gun to the head Maybe next time You won’t let me fail you twice You will dance me to my deathbed Like a gun to the head Like a gun to the head Maybe next time You won’t let me fail you twice You will dance me to my deathbed Oh no, You’ve been letting me down You’ve been letting me down All this time My my oh my What a sad little life We lead - don’t we? Can’t even say we tried Do you remember when we had - Almost nothing to lose And you said that was real freedom - For it was freedom to choose How to fill all the hours How to spend all the days But you found it too much And it made you afraid So you work and you slave And you save for a sunny day Like a gun to the head Like a gun to the head Maybe next time You won’t let me fail you twice You will dance me to my deathbed Like a gun to the head Like a gun to the head Maybe next time You don’t have to tell me twice, and You will dance me to my deathbed Like a gun to the head And in a manner of speaking Speaking - for the final time You had me, and lost me Why was I surprised? But when I first saw the news Saw the injured and dead And I knew it was you From the second I read That the suspect was found With a worm crawling from her mouth And a gun to the head Here Henry Lies Where do we go when die? Will there be an afterlife? Or will worms eat us in our deathbeds? Power gets you high! Power! Power! Power! Power! You my boy! I’m crawling round your body now My worm child Ho yay! Ho yay! All good citizens of Wyrmlands! Harken unto these words! The Worshipful Worm has commanded that I make known unto you That henceforth, the crimes of grunting and consuming worms Under the flag of Henry Spychalski’s so called Grunter Rebels Will be sentenced to death by public execution in the town square! Eat, eat, eat, eat, eat, eat, eat, eat Flesh, flesh, flesh, flesh, flesh, flesh, flesh, flesh Cow, chicken, pig, human! Cow, chicken, pig, human! What’s the difference? What’s the d-
6.
Dear listener Mister Henry Spychalski is exhibiting extremely volatile behaviour There is a confluence of long standing abandonment and rejection issues With mythological and quasi-biblical delusions Expressed in long, rambling narratives [Hoo! Ha! To the - door!] Punctuated by song and dance Apart from the standard diagnoses of narcissism, depression and acute psychosis I believe that the incident that we refer to as ‘The Event’ Has triggered a dissolution of the distinction Between symbolic and real figures in his mind Where’d you go? Sometimes I catch Myself Falling Backwards To where We said Goodbye On the concourse Running late for Your plane just like Always, always I don’t notice My tears til the Ticket man asks Am I okay When the smoke clears And the doors close Wave to me from The train windows I’ll call your name For the last time I will love you Til my last breath And in death I will go To the church where me made Vows that we couldn’t keep While the children we made Held the train of your dress Off the dust on the floor There where happiness lives I will sleep forever more Lover, hold me Memory, haunt me Take me back to Liverpool Street By the time you hear these words Maybe I’ll be over you Until then, I’ll wait for you With unshakeable patience I’ll wait where you left me - By the trains At Liverpool Street station It is most likely in this petri dish That the Worm was born Patient strongly believes - And is perhaps correct in believing - That he’s the only one capable of killing the worm and that this is a necessity for salvation He made the Worm He has to kill the Worm
7.
The Worm 05:17
Henry! Henry! Henry! Today I proclaim that a worm has swallowed England! And despite what you have been told It is not of a face, nor spine, nor legs It does not want your jobs, your women, or your cattle sheds The Worm lives deep within yourselves! And you live deep within the Worm! Hatred is the Worm! Envy is the Worm! Ego is the Worm! We’ll break God’s rib To make a scythe To carve our way out of his cage into the light! And very soon, no crops could grow, nor seeds be sewn And all the while, the acid in the belly rose and rose and rose When you meet the Worm You must kill the Worm We were born deep In the belly Of a great worm Of a worm that swallows worlds! Of a worm with no way out! There’s a worm in - everybody And we’re living - in the belly Of a worm inside the man! And the man’s inside the Worm! Father, are we wretched? Are men no more than just worm gods? Aren’t our bodies like theirs - Soft and pink and feeding off the Corpse of the earth? We are Worm God! We are Worm God! Man is Worm God! And if you meet the Worm on the road to the promised land You must kill the Worm We were born deep In the belly Of a great worm Of a worm that swallows worlds! Of a worm with no way out! There’s a worm in - everybody And we’re living - in the belly Of a worm inside the man! And the man’s inside the Worm! I cross my heart and hope to die I tie the rope and hope it works this time It looks just like the worm that’s haunted me Through all my life And my life Flashed before my eyes - I was a just child I was playing football with my father in the garden I could hear my mother calling us for tea I kicked and then The ground just fell beneath my feet And I saw worms - We were born deep In the belly Of a great worm Of a worm that swallows worlds! Of a worm with no way out! Of a worm called Capital! Kill yourself to Kill the Worm inside you Die a man Or live to see Yourself become a worm god like me! (A cacophony of maggots)
8.
In a dream you found a way Saw your chance to start again No more living day by day No more running from the rain In a dream you found a way In a dream you found a way To survive! Dream another world! Dream another life! Dream it all away! Dream it never ends - dream! You must not sacrifice your children to Moloch! You must not sacrifice your children to the Worm! You must not allow yourself to be a passenger In someone else’s dreams! For you will live to see another land! And you will live to walk another road! You will live to drink from the well of human kindness! Drink, child, drink! And you will find a way! Everything will find a way! Everything will find a way - to survive! Lord! Fill me with your love I’ll open myself up But lord tell me why, Why you never just gave me a sign? Tell me how to keep the faith Keep the faith Keep the faith Keep the faith Dream another world child! Dream another life child Dream a pair of wings! Dream you never wake - up! And together the ants will conquer the elephant! Together man walking hand in hand will conquer the worm! Set fire to this cathedral of hatred! That we lust! At the top of the world! For you are an architectural model of an angel! Yes! You are Jesus Christ walking on the water! Dream another world! Dream another life! And you will find a way! Everything will find a way! Everything will find a way - to survive! Lord! Fill me with your love I’ll open myself up But lord tell me why Why you never just gave me a sign? Tell me how to keep the faith Keep the faith Keep the faith Keep the faith Without judgement Without judgement Without judgement Without judgement Lord! I know you’re gonna save me - oh Lord! I know you’re gonna save my soul! I know you’re gonna save me - oh Lord! You are an architectural model for something beyond yourself You are not an angel You are not infinite Your feet will blister from the walk to the well of human kindness You will wonder if you made the right choice You will miss your bed You will wonder if this was meant for you This morning, Our cat walked into the kitchen And dropped a worm at my feet Its claws had ripped the small pink thing in two Two worms, now racing each other Back towards the garden door, and the mud I kneeled down at the side of the small twitching things And gathered them in my palms I walked out into the garden And lowered my hands to the wet earth ‘Life is beautiful’ I said Life is very beautiful. Then I opened my hands And the worm crawled out And then - I opened my eyes ~
9.
Lay Me Down 04:55
The sun was a flaming death star On the day you were conceived The sky shattered like a sheet of glass And the waves were like mountains And the mountains swallowed themselves Fish crawled out from the boiling oceans Birds fell from the sky - bloated with their song Trees felled themselves And all the moon bugs in the long grass were buzzing And all of this you shall inherit As far as you can see All of this is yours ~ I am hanging by the wire I can’t get much higher I think we misunderstood God’s intentions are good I am wading through the mire And the world’s on fire This time it ended for good Like they said it would Lay me down I’ve got no end Lay me down My only friend This leads nowhere Still I pretend - Lay me down Just like God meant I had a dream about us where We were two halves of a worm Then I woke and you were there Telling me nothing was wrong Well ain’t that just like us To destroy the things we love Then you come back to me You walk in and the clouds burst! Lay me down I’ve got no end Lay me down My only friend This leads nowhere Still I pretend - Lay me down Just like God meant Oh no, oh no - Don’t fall away Don’t fall away Don’t fall away ~

about

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, and finds frontman Henry Spychalski drawing on his own psycho-spiritual struggles to construct a modern parable about the impotence felt by individuals stuck inside gargantuan, labyrinthine systems of power that they are powerless to change.

Henry explains,“We’re told to believe that anxiety and depression are purely material and biological – like a parasitic worm that can be removed with the right treatment. I think that really these conditions reflect the world that surrounds us - like colonies that a far bigger Worm has made in each of us - the psychological havoc wreaked by our inescapable capitalist reality and the looming apocalypse it has created."

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released April 7, 2023

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