Kula Shaker - Wormslayer
Kula Shaker are set to release their eighth studio album ‘Wormslayer’ on the 30th January. Released via Strange F.O.L.K Records, it follows 2024’s critically acclaimed ‘Natural Magick’.
In many ways, ‘Wormslayer’ picks up where they left off in 2024 with spiritual explorations and Beatles influences remaining prominent. ‘Dust Beneath Our Feet’ supplements the richness of The Grateful Dead with Stephen Stills’ soul-cleansing guitars (‘For What It’s Worth’). Whilst ‘Good Money’ strays from Sgt. Pepper's to Ravi Shankar to Cornershop with a playfully hazy groove. Both are enhanced by frontman Crispian Mills’ ability to fold in the bite of Lennon with his own penchant for melody. These well-trodden paths dominate proceedings for the most part.
Just another album for life-long fans?
That would be the case but for ‘Be Merciful’, ‘The Winged Boy’, and the title track ‘Wormslayer’. All are of such quality that they transcend to higher planes. ‘Be Merciful’, their latest single, a collaboration with Thom Yorke cohort Mark Pritchard, has a hauntingly cathartic feel. Mills and the backing singers bring a gospel tinge, while panoramic guitars act as liberators for souls trapped in purgatory.
‘The Winged Boy’, lights up the record with its vast science fiction landscapes. Mills’ guitars resound across galaxies like cries for help, warning signs, and at their most ecstatic, moments of heroism.
On ‘Wormslayer’, the hallmarks of all their finest moments lurk like loving psyche shadows caressing this new moment of genius. There’s a curiosity to Jay Darlington's keys and Mills’ mesmerising vocals in the early stages that only Robert Plant (and band) can match in the modern era. When they step on the power, they splice the boisterous blasts of the early Black Keys albums with their archetypal mysticism, allowing Mills’ gentler vocal to cut through and create pure magic.
Having released a run of fine albums over the past six years, it would be an understatement to say the band are in a purple patch. What Wormslayer achieves over ‘1st Congregational Church of Eternal Love and Free Hugs’ and ‘Natural Magick’ is not reinvention, but elevation. Where ‘Tattva’ and ‘Govinda’ once stood as unique high points, ‘Be Merciful’, ‘The Winged Boy’, and ‘Wormslayer’ now take their place, signalling a band not just sustaining momentum, but surpassing themselves.
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