When you invent your own genre, you can make the rules. If Wormhole’s excellent ‘The Weakest Among Us’ was 50% Tech Death and 50% Slamming Brutal Death Metal, their Season of Mist debut is leveling up of the Baltimore-based act’s trademark “Tech Slam.” It’s the kind of record that can scramble your brain and give your neck a nice chiropractic workout. ‘Almost Human’ feels like the future of Extreme Metal. There’s a clear balance to everything: the songs are more adventurous while also being instantly memorable. So, what the hell exactly is Tech Slam? The gleefully amorphous and unholy term comes from an ethos that guitarists Sanil “Noni” Kumar and Sanjay Kumar discovered and perfected over thousands of hours of Metroid and Doom games, as well as, you know, actual musical mastery. Like another famous sci-fi horror masterpiece of a different media, Wormhole’s shifting, amorphous style is perfectly suited to blend in and amaze just about any fan of heavy music. That’s The Thing: they can pull off whatever they want, but it’s always boiled down to that Tech Slam vibe. Do you like tech, melody, breakdowns, atmosphere, or dissonance? Tech Slam can fill whatever void you seek. Almost Human, out September 22, 2023, is more powerful, more agile, and more confounding for pie-chart-enthusiasts than anything else that came before it. Wormhole are absolutely ready for their closeup. Prepare your worms and your holes, Tech Slam is here to stay.