This Shouldn’t Work. It Kind of Does.
Did you ever think death metal needed a Dream Theater flair with jazz interludes? I didn’t ask for it. But here I am, and it’s interesting to say the least.
Arise from Worms — a supergroup featuring Steve Tucker (Morbid Angel), Flo Mounier (Cryptopsy), Sonny Lombardozzi (Incantation), and Derek Sherinian (Dream Theater) — dropped “Power Obsessed” today, the second single from their debut full-length A Bleeding Tree Hanging Self Destruction, out July 10 via Church Road Records.
Dream Theater is one of my all-time favorite bands. Death metal is one of my all-time favorite genres. You’d think I’d be exactly the target audience for this. And I am — but it’s not without questions. “Power Obsessed” is technically impressive as hell. Sherinian’s keyboard work cuts through at unexpected moments, adding a prog shimmer that works next to Tucker’s death growls and Mounier’s blastbeats. And yet somehow it doesn’t fall apart.
The question I keep coming back to: how does this translate over a full album? A few minutes of death metal with jazz-adjacent keys is a parlor trick that actually works. Forty-plus minutes of it is a different promise. The pedigree is undeniable — Tucker and Mounier are two of the most respected names in death metal, and Sherinian has spent a career making prog feel dangerous. If anyone can make this work long-form, it’s this lineup.
The video is embedded below. Check it out and make up your own mind.