15th December 2023
Christopher Nosnibor
Among their tags, garage / punk / alternative rock band The Würmen have included ‘super-edgy’. Fair enough: they are German, right? Wrong! They’re from West Yorkshire – Leeds to be precise – and this, their debut EP, which features two previous singles, offers a set of four songs, all with medical / related titles and puns. ‘Vas deferens’ was the punchline to a joke I’ve completely forgotten after being told some twenty-five years ago. This is a recollection which helps no-one, but simply adds a layer off intertext to the experience of hearing this primitive punky racket. The songs are raucous, shouty, not too mention a tad zany, equal parts Pixies and Leeds legends Bilge Pump, the choppy, skewed guitar slaloming all over a dominant bass sound.
‘Ceiling Funny’ – the EP’s only track to run beyond three minutes – feels like their stab at a song that might get some traction, if not necessarily airplay, with the angularity yielding to a hooky chorus that’s not quite Foo Fighters, but clearly aspires to a more ramshackle reimagining of Biffy Clyro.
‘Cognitive Dissonance’ is quirky noise rock that’s quintessential Leeds, channelling the roaring grunge of Pulled Apart by Horses and the nagging mathiness of Wintermute and This Et Al. ‘Remediation Policy’ is a hell-for-leather riotous race to the end, wrapping up a snappy release that’s exploding with energy, urgency, and raw power, and which is great fun.
AA
Aural Aggravation 