Flat Worms: Into the Iris Album Review

By Dylan Reynolds
Music Journalist

Artist Name: Flat Worms
Album: Into the Iris
Release Date: February 8, 2019
Website:https://flatwormsmusic.bandcamp.com/

Flat Worms is a west coast supergroup trio made up of guitarist Will Ivy, bassist Tim Hellman and drummer Justin Sullivan. Their debut release, Red Hot Sand, is comprised of three songs and was made available April 2016. They released their first full length album October 2017. The self-titled album was released on Castle Face Records and was followed by the band touring predominantly in the United States and United Kingdom. Into the Iris, the band’s latest release, was recorded by Ty Segall and is every bit as raw and energy packed as their previous releases.

The album is super heavy and has a raw feel that’s just full of vitality. The feedback at the beginning of the first song has the power to get the mosh pit instantly going and has a use similar to what Nirvana did in their first album Bleach. There are a ton of amazing basslines, drum fills, and even more extremely clever uses of feedback throughout the album.

The third song on the album, “Plastic at Home” starts with a bass riff that makes me feel like I’m skating and picking up speed. The world is mine, and no one has any power whatsoever to take even a piece of it from me—my personal favorite song on the album.

The fourth song on the album, “Shouting at the wall” is a definite mosher. Even the lamest of crowds couldn’t stop themselves from going crazy to this song. The song has a feeling similar to its name—like you’re shouting at a wall or doing something with no other result than some sort of anger induced personal release.

Scattered palms, the fifth record on the album, reminds me of lounging around on the couch, unsure what to do with myself as my thoughts become increasingly fixated on some random scenario I’ve created in my head. It evokes an escape from a mundane day through one’s own imagination. It’s really amazing an instrumental track could take one’s mind on a journey the way this one does.

Overall, this album carries the same amount of amped up energy as their previous self-titled album but has a bit of a tighter/cleaner mix. This band is able to manipulate the distortion and feedback of their instruments into creating some of the most explosive tracks out there. There is no way you could go to one of their shows and not find yourself moshing or moving in some kind of way with the energy these songs are dishing out.