Wyrms, The

Sometimes bands play fast, loud, and out of control because they are limited by their rudimentary skills. As they learn to play together and become more skilled at their instruments, the songs get a little slower, a little quieter and a little more in control. Chapel Hill’s The Wyrms are intent on turning that all too common refrain on its head.

The Wyrms do indeed play fast, loud, and out of control, but they do so because they want to, not because they have to. The sibling rhythm section of Chloe and Derek have been playing together as long as they have been able to hold instruments. Jack, Patrick and Chloe have played together (and separately) in a host of North Carolina bands whose sounds range from minimal folk to protracted psychedelia for the last four years.

The Wyrms write songs about monsters, shape-shifters, and wizards. Similar to their chosen subject matter, the band itself came together after some shape shifting. Their experiences crafting calm, collected, and introspective tunes in area studios left them thirsting for the catharsis that only raw DIY rock and roll can quench.

Their debut album, “At Wizard Island” is the culmination of this metamorphosis. Recorded live by themselves in Jack and Chloe’s living room on a Tascam 488, “At Wizard Island” is a document of a band letting loose. This blown-out album boasts a “Monster-of-the-Week” roster of songs that take their influence from the darker side of Nuggets-era garage and punk. Thick, fuzzed-out guitars surround pounding rhythms and melodic basslines, while gritty vocals surge and swirl underneath it all. Buried in all that tape-hiss and grime are no-frills pop songs that make you want to shake and scream.