Lo! In this dark age, a light of hope comes. But it’s not from a gleaming knight’s helm or the monde of a kingly crown, it’s from a farmer’s ploughshare. Netherwilds’ debut album, Peasant Rising, is a thatch of blackened metal, post-hardcore, doom and folk.
It’s a charming bardic tale and a subversive epic, detailing the failings of power and the dignity of man (and goat). Told by a farmer. How does a humble serf end up creating such art?
“It bewilders even me,” says Worm Chewer – aka Tokyo Police Club’s David Monks – the helot at the head of Netherwilds.
“Here we are in feudalism; not a lot of options for one who is indentured to the land he works,” he says, before crediting “a certain amount of frolicking about in the bushes, mischief when the baron wasn’t looking” for sparking this creative fancy that first resulted in “TikTok scrolls” – short videos about peasant life.
I looked at myself, and I thought, ‘What am I doing? I’m just pissing about doing nothing with myself
Worm Chewer
After discovering camaraderie in the comments section, Worm Chewer fleshed out these short daydreams into a full album.
“I think it can’t be underestimated, the power of a bit of dalliance and a bit of frolic, really,” he adds.
However, Peasant Rising doesn’t begin with a frolic, but heartbreak. Worm Chewer learns that his betrothed has been promised to a noble’s son, despite his having raised the dowry of a goat. Frustration with his fellow farmers (Peasant Pit) leads to the discovery of a discarded helmet (Helm Yeah), kicking off a journey that sees him surpass his station and battle the church (Heretic) and state, until he’s at the castle’s doors in a wicker construct (Wickermech).
A key moment on Peasant Rising comes with Ballad Of Sir Gregory, when Worm Chewer sneaks into a fair to see his hero in action. There, he learns how Sir Gregory once lived in ‘damsel days that felt untrue / when I rode as Grace in pink not blue’, and that ‘slaying that name’ allowed Gregory to rise above the station dictated by feudal society.
“It was class without class,” Worm Chewer says of Sir Gregory. “It was inspiring. And I looked at myself, and I thought, ‘What am I doing down here? I’m just pissing about doing nothing with myself, not solving everything.’ When I left that fair, I just broke down a bit and thought, ‘There’s a loss here. There’s a loss of love, and there’s a comfortable blindness that is gone.’ And that’s where Crying The Hay came from. Moments later, I’m being chased with lances again off to the next locale.’”
While metal is no stranger to medieval themes, Peasant Rising eschews those typical fantasies of sword and might. There is no castle, but a Siege Proof Hovel. Who needs a glittering battalion when you have a Farmer’s Armoury? (‘I ain’t got no morning star / But I got this threshing stick / I ain’t got a scimitar / but my scythe will do the trick.’)
“Why should we worship the propaganda of the powerful and imagine ourselves to be tougher and mightier?” ponders Worm Chewer. “Because when we are more armoured, we’re more separated and we’re less unique. If I had a helmet on my head, it would be hard to tell me from the next TikTok scroll maker. I think in every facet, our vulnerability is our uniqueness, and our uniqueness is what allows us to connect. And our connection is our power.”
Like a bountiful harvest, Peasant Rising offers something for everyone. It’s a cornucopia of contrasting and conflicting styles – often all in one song.
“I’m new to metal. That’s not where I come from,” Worm Chewer says. “As I was exploring these explicit concepts – ‘Yes, she took my goat’ [Return The Goat] – I found that there were other thoughts and feelings that were less explicit. One thing about metal, it’s very explicit.
“And the beauty of metal is that it does exactly what it says,” he continues. “And as new layers became relevant to the story, I didn’t want to limit it. Just like in me shed, any tools I had to do the job would be perfect.”
While metal has its vanguard, Worm Chewer says he hasn’t experienced any gatekeeping.
“The metal community is a rare example of a community that is thriving and connected, one not dominated by the interests of the tithes of the king or what have you,” says the farmer. “It’s really based on genuine connection and genuine values beyond that.”
“It’s a rare beacon for people who are not part of their community,” he adds. “I think metal could open up to people without losing what is important about it, if we can just decide which are the bits that matter. Does it matter what patches are on your tunic or whatever you have? What’s really important? Because there’s something beautiful going on. I have gained a lot from sharing in it, and I’m glad to be a part of it.”
Worm Chewer began posting his “scrolls” two years ago, and one might consider Peasant Rising the culmination of sorts – but the farmer’s journey has just begun. “We are on the precipice of it now,” he says. “It’s like we’re standing at the castle gates and there is much to be sung.”
Hip-hip-huzzah!
Peasant Rising is out now via King Volume.
