Have you ever decided to pick up an album because it shares aspects with a video game you played? There have been numerous bands whose musical concepts have been based on their favorite video games, such as Firelink’s The Inveterate Fire (Dark Souls). Imagine my surprise when I discovered that such a thing existed for one of my favorites, Control, a game known for its inherent weirdness. Needing to see where it would take me, I decided to dive into The Oldest House’s A Worm Through Time and see what it has to offer to the world of sludge.

From the get-go, sludge is the wisest choice in genre when it comes to exploring the strange and the bizarre. While the genre tends to be slow and dense, it can also become the perfect setting to expand upon certain ideas. The album begins with “Objects of Power,” a song that evokes the idea of binding yourself to a place, somewhere that you aren’t aware exists until you find yourself in front of it. By starting the album, you, as the listener, are binding yourself to it, granting you access to some sort of eldritch knowledge. The song itself is graced by elements of hardcore, its tempo quick as if you are being slammed with the full force of a freight truck. However, we return to the densest matter of the universe with the second track, “The Oldest House.” Perhaps I have been incredibly invested in Control’s world, but this title evokes the image of a bleak, brutalist building that holds a myriad of secrets and various methods of travel to get around. The music here sounds like you are traveling through various departments in quick succession, running from one place to another as you try to understand what’s happening. The frenetic pacing of “The Oldest House” also provides a sense of urgency, as if something has gone incredibly wrong and you are the only person who can fix it.

That sense of urgency also bleeds on the next track, “A Worm Through Time.” While the song is slower in comparison to the previous tracks, it manages to heighten its sense of dread. Something terrible is approaching, a sharp resonance that slowly builds before the song picks up speed and then you are staring at the Hiss in the face. It’s oppressive and heavy but the urgency and the song’s tempo cut through those layers, allowing you to escape its clutches and continue moving forward in your exploration of the Oldest House. After all, you are here to fulfill a mission and you cannot let that resonance swallow you whole. However, there are other horrors in the Oldest House that need to be looked at, and that’s what you get with “Interdimensional Mold.” This track is a reset – it’s quiet, eerie, as if you are not supposed to be here. Sure, the entirety of the Oldest House so far has been a mind meld, a container of things that we don’t seem to understand, but there is nothing more horrifying than the ambient eeriness of this track. The first three tracks have been heavy, showing layers and layers of noise and density on its sleeve. The minute it starts, the overt noise is gone – all that’s left is a beat that sounds more like Ulver than LLNN. It’s pretty, but incredibly sinister, and the tempo begins to pick up closer to the end.

Finally, there’s “The Painting on The Wall,” a song that brings back the sludge to full force, but it combines it with the ambient, eerie atmosphere of the previous track. You have seen too much, and there’s nothing you can do except wait for what’s to come. The tension builds and then it snaps – you are now part of the Oldest House, bent to its inherent will. You must now obey/adhere to the whims/wishes of the Board/Us until you retire/exit.

A Worm Through Time feels like a supplement to the original Control soundtrack, where the music here acts as the layer underneath the surface. The dense, harrowing nature of what you are listening to becomes apparent the moment the album ends, and it ties perfectly to the overall themes the game explores. This EP is an extension, another world behind a specific door, and the music is its perfect accompaniment. Come for the concept, stay for the music, for you are now tied.

— Hera

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A Worm Through Time is available now on I, Voidhanger Records. For more information on The Oldest House, visit their Instagram page.