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Barbarian Swords, formed in Barcelona in 2011, are pretty unusual suspects in the field of global extreme Metal music. Worms is their second studio album, mixing both Black and Doom Metal together relatively successfully. The album is just crushingly heavy, although not so easily accessible due to its lengthy songs, with the longest number ("Requiem") being nearly 18 minutes long. But given some time, you are going to find some new things and will end up liking it more and more. After a few more spins, the album began opening its secret gates one by one, and all of a sudden I actually enjoyed being in the realm of Barbarian Swords' blackened Doom. The biggest contrast on Worms comes from vocalist Von Päx's shrieking Black Metal snarls combined with those heartbeat-killing, ultra-slow Doom Metal beats that fill the album. Also, riff-wise, Bolt Thrower's influence became obvious, especially on "Christian Worms," on which there's this somewhat very familiar sounding mangling riff starting at the 21:29 mark.

Overall, despite the likelihood that the album may be a bit too long for a casual listener, it offers a lot for Doom Metal fans; the Black Sabbath/Candlemass heaviness with twisted and torture-filled Black Metal vocals may not often be a winning combination, but I have to admit that on Worms it works very well. A very audible, old-school bass sound also earns some extra horns-up in the final album mix.