A Review of Paul Roland’s New Rock Album - ‘Lair of the White Worm’
- I'm Not From London
- 9 hours ago
- 2 min read
Paul Roland doesn’t simply make records; he builds pocket dimensions. Lair of the White Worm — now re-released and sharper than ever — is one of those rare albums that feels less like a collection of songs and more like a cabinet you open at your own risk…
Inside: plague years, gothic serpents, Hammer Horror corners, Greek myths, Edwardian oddities, and the faint, unsettling creak of a world sliding sideways. Roland has spent over four decades as rock’s most literary outsider, and this album is a reminder of why his cult following borders on the devotional.
The title track sets the tone with its nods to Bram Stoker and Hammer’s The Reptile, immediately pulling you into Roland’s trademark blend of gothic drama and grim fantasia. He never pastiches; he resurrects. His voice — distinctive, weathered, and rich with character — leads the listener through one lurid tableau after another as if guiding a twilight tour of forgotten chambers.
What makes this album so compelling is the way Roland threads history, folklore and horror into something that moves with real purpose. ‘Year of the Harlot’, ‘Year of the Whore’, and ‘Master Boil and Mistress Sore’ plunge directly into the London Plague of 1666, yet nothing feels academic. These tracks are alive with grit: masked figures, burning skies, cramped dwellings, rumours spreading faster than disease. His arrangements mirror that fraught energy — tight, rhythmic, slightly jagged, but always melodic in ways only Roland seems able to engineer.
Then the record veers into mythology with ‘Prophetess, Sybil and Seer’ and the dreamlike ‘Leda and the Swan’, the latter lifted further by Joran Elane’s ethereal vocals. Roland shifts between eras effortlessly; he treats time like scenery, something to fold and refold as needed. By the time he lands on the wistful H. G. Wells homage ‘In Memory of a Time Traveler’, you realise the album has circled not just through centuries, but through moods — from menace to melancholy to something strangely hopeful.
What binds it all together is Roland’s mastery of vivid lyricism. He paints with detail, creating scenes that feel almost tactile, but never sacrificing momentum or melody. This is why he’s been praised by everyone from Rolling Stone to Frank Zappa — the latter recognising the rare combination of intellect and accessibility that threads through his work. Lair of the White Worm captures that duality effortlessly.
Across 25 studio albums, Roland has stayed proudly niche, fiercely imaginative and completely self-defined. This re-release reinforces his status as a singular figure — a baroque-pop craftsman, a gothic storyteller, and a lifelong explorer of the strange. Lair of the White Worm isn’t just a highlight of his catalogue; it’s a reminder of how thrilling music becomes when an artist builds worlds instead of simply writing songs.
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