EP Reaction: 'We Will Never Be Okay Again' by Womb of Error

Every now and then, there's a black metal project that catches my attention more than others, given how acquired of a taste the extreme side of heavy music tends to be. In recent years, one of my favorite black metal releases has been Fliege's 2022 album One Day They'll Wonder What Happened Here, inspired by the 1982 sci-fi horror masterpiece The Thing, and earlier this summer, the debut single from the duo Womb of Error, "No Refuge," piqued my curiosity in a similar way.

Consisting of vocalist Nxxses and guitarist Tom Gekas, Womb of Error describes themselves as "depressive bluesy black metal," and "No Refuge" proved that assessment to be accurate in the best way possible. However, the recent release of their debut EP We Will Never Be Okay Again showed that they're capable of a couple different sonic emotions. In just 4 tracks and clocking in just shy of 20 minutes, Nxxses and Gekas managed to craft together an impressive body of work, and it honestly ended up being a standout EP of the year for me personally.

"No Refuge" was a great choice for the opening track, especially given the familiarity of it being the first song the band released, and the upbeat opening of the following track (and second single), "Years Spent in Regret," is probably one of my favorite musical moments of the EP. As far as titles go, nothing beats that of "Perpetually Exhausted," because if that hasn't been the vibe this year, then I don't know what has. The EP closes with the title track, "We Will Never Be Okay Again," which leads me to believe that the duo was strategically saving the best for last. Feeling much shorter than its 7+ minute runtime, just one listen through it makes it easy to understand why the EP was named after this track.

I've been listening to Nxxses' music, solo and otherwise, for a while now, and Womb of Error may very well be one of my favorite projects of his. I always respect his musical versatility with each release and every band, and adding a guitarist like Tom Gekas into the fold was a fantastic match. The different layers that Gekas adds with his musical contributions really brings this EP to life, and the final product turned out phenomenal. Listening to this release actually led me down a rabbithole of listening to Gekas' solo music, and I'm very excited to hear even more of what he brings to the table on future releases.

Nxxses has always dabbled with black metal elements, especially with his early solo material, and to hear this project really puts the musical maturation he's had over the years into perspective. Listening to another black metal release from him, with so much time removed from that of his early solo work, almost feels like listening to a completely different artist because of how much he's improved over the years. From both a musical and lyrical level, I feel pretty confident in saying that the title track to this EP is one of my favorite songs Nxxses has ever released, and having that be the cliffhanger of the EP has me even more excited to hear more new music that he releases in the years to come.

I don't say this about every black metal band, but I'm eagerly awaiting the next release from Womb of Error because this debut EP was so solid — like I said earlier, this is definitely a standout EP for me, and I highly recommend giving it a spin whenever you get a chance.

Stream the 'We Will Never Be Okay Again' EP here.

Keep up with Womb of Error here.