Oldd Wvrms are a Belgian sludge/doom band and this is their second album.

With slow, sludgy riffs the band proceed to hypnotise and entice with their rich, textured brand of murky delivery. This is not your run-of-the-mill simple or basic sludge/doom; this is music that’s been produced with thought and purpose.

There’s plenty of heavy riffs on here, but the heaviness is only part of the recipe they have for producing Grade A sludge metal; there’s a real sense that a lot of thought and consideration has gone into this music, and the band display a lot more nuance and grasp of subtlety than a lot of their peers.

Oldd Wvrms also have a keen sense of atmosphere and dynamics, frequently altering pace and mood by dint of the progressive/post-metal aspects in their sound, with a feeling akin to Tool in some of the more subtle parts of their music.

These songs grasp you almost without you realising; the dark auras and foreboding atmospheres that the band create instantly grab your attention, and before you’ve really had the time to think about what’s happened, you’re all the way down the rabbit hole with the band, wallowing in their darkness and wondering how they manage to weave the black magic that they do so expertly and insidiously.

These songs are masterful examples of mood, atmosphere and dark heaviness, offset with enough light and shade to create music that’s wonderfully nuanced and with more depth in one song than many bands manage in an album.

To go alongside the surprisingly varied music, the vocal delivery is just as well-considered and interesting, as well as being quite sparse comparatively speaking. It’s all used as an effective extra layer to the music, further enhancing the depth of what Oldd Wvrms produce.

This is my first encounter with Oldd Wvrms and I must say that I’m extremely impressed. Ignobilis is a finely-released 40 minutes of prime sludge/doom, one that forges its own path through the blackened tar-pits, going for a less-obvious delivery, but one that pays off massively.

An essential listen for all fans of textured and emotive heaviness.