Kula Shaker Wormslayer
Kula Shaker's Wormslayer returns the band to widescreen psychedelia with a confident, theatrical sweep that many critics call a triumphant comeback. Across professional reviews, the record's blend of Indian psychedelia, 1960s revivalist flourishes and arena-ready rock creates a sense of mythic struggle and spiritual sensitivity that fuels its most memorable moments.
Critics consistently point to standout tracks as proof of the album's strengths: “Wormslayer” emerges as the cinematic centerpiece, while “Lucky Number”, “Be Merciful” and “The Winged Boy” are repeatedly cited as the best songs on the record for their fusion of sitar-tinged textures, jangling Beatles nods and eruptive, glam-tinged riffs. Across seven professional reviews the collection earned a 79.71/100 consensus score, with reviewers praising its live energy, spacey soundscapes and the band's knack for marrying nostalgic 60s sociopolitical moods with modern production.
While most reviews celebrate the album's ambition and emotional weight, some critics note a tension between nostalgia and refinement - the prog/new age concept moments and operatic theatrics occasionally trade subtlety for scale. Still, the prevailing critical consensus suggests Wormslayer is worth hearing for its standout tracks, its vivid cosmic storytelling and the way Kula Shaker's Eastern instrumentation and folk-rock fusion feel renewed rather than merely recycled. Read on for full reviews and track-by-track reactions to the band's big, mystic return.
Critics' Top Tracks
The standout songs that made critics take notice
Wormslayer
6 mentions
"The Indian influences ... are, perhaps, most apparent on Wormslayer’s epic title track"— At The Barrier
Be Merciful
6 mentions
"Be Merciful starts life as a drowsy, lysergic, folk song and builds into a multi-coloured collage of sound"— At The Barrier
The Winged Boy
6 mentions
"the slow, purposeful opening to The Winged Boy explodes into a whirl of guitars"— At The Barrier
The Indian influences ... are, perhaps, most apparent on Wormslayer’s epic title track
Track Ratings
How critics rated each track, relative to this album (0-100). Only tracks that made critics feel something are rated.
Lucky Number
Good Money
Charge of the Light Brigade
Little Darling
Broke As Folk
Be Merciful
Shaunie
The Winged Boy
Day For Night
Wormslayer
Dust Beneath Our Feet
What Critics Are Saying
Deep insights from 7 critics who reviewed this album
Critic's Take
Kula Shaker's Wormslayer is a luminous psychedelic odyssey where the best songs - “Lucky Number”, “Charge Of The Light Brigade” and the title cut “Wormslayer” - propel the album with feverish dreamlike momentum. Emma Harrison's prose celebrates how opener “Lucky Number” shifts from hazy space rock to glam-tinged riffs, while “Charge Of The Light Brigade” serves as an explosive rallying cry that charges the record forward. The title track, described as cinematic and mythic, ties personal story to the album's sweeping narratives, making these tracks the highlights for both longtime fans and newcomers. Taken together, these songs showcase Kula Shaker at their most inventive and expansive, anchoring the album's hypnotic energy.
Key Points
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The best song is the opener “Lucky Number” because it sets the album's tone with a trance-like, shifting psychedelic energy.
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The album's core strengths are its expansive psychedelia, rich storytelling, and blending of folk and rock into cinematic soundscapes.
Themes
In
Critic's Take
Kula Shaker’s Wormslayer finds its best songs when eastern psychedelia collides with retro rock, notably “Lucky Number” and “The Winged Boy”. David Rangel praises how “Lucky Number” bursts from sitar calm into a Britpop romp, and how “The Winged Boy” channels Meddle-era expansiveness, making them standouts among the record’s stylistic excursions. The title track “Wormslayer” deepens the prog/new age concept ambition while closer “Dust Beneath Our Feet” provides a calming, 60s-style sociopolitical coda. Overall the best tracks on Wormslayer are those that marry hypnotic eastern textures with big, spacey production.
Key Points
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The best song, "Lucky Number", pairs hypnotic eastern textures with a punchy Britpop romp making it the album’s immediate standout.
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The album’s core strength is its fusion of eastern psychedelia with varied retro styles and expansive, spacey production.
Themes
Critic's Take
Kula Shaker continue to thrill on Wormslayer, a kaleidoscopic record where the best tracks - notably “Be Merciful” and the title track “Wormslayer” - crystallize the band’s psychedelic, mystical strengths. Sterdan’s voice finds the album surging with evangelical fervor, and he singles out “Be Merciful” as a classic deep cut resurrected with spooky mellotrons and live-band power. The review frames these best songs as part of a larger psychedelic rock opera - sumptuous, urgent and wildly imaginative. It reads like proof that Kula Shaker’s flame burns brighter than ever, with those standout tracks anchoring the album’s ambitious, shape-shifting magic.
Key Points
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Be Merciful is the best song because the reviewer calls it a classic deep cut revitalized with spooky mellotrons and live energy.
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The album’s core strengths are its kaleidoscopic psychedelia, mythic storytelling, and ambitious, shape-shifting arrangements.
Themes
Critic's Take
Kula Shaker's Wormslayer drills memorable hooks into the skull, with standouts like “Lucky Number” and “Wormslayer” delivering irresistible swagger and cathartic payoff. The record balances mystic folk rock and Indian psychedelia, so the best songs on Wormslayer trade jaunty, pop-infused bounce for epic, eruptive riffs - “Lucky Number” grabs you from the first verse while the title track blooms into a seven-plus-minute centerpiece. For listeners asking what the best tracks on Wormslayer are, start with those two, then follow into slow-burning gems like “Be Merciful” that swell with layered vocals and yearning. This is an album that rewards attention, and its best songs feel both entertaining and deeply purposeful.
Key Points
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The best song is 'Lucky Number' because its immediate, hook-driven opener seizes attention and exemplifies the album's irresistible pop-rock swagger.
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The album's core strengths are cohesive storytelling, memorable hooks, and a blend of rock, pop, and Indian-psychedelic textures that reward attentive listening.
Themes
Critic's Take
Kula Shaker sound revelatory on Wormslayer, a joyous return that spotlights songs like “Broke As Folk” and “Good Money” as definite standouts. The reviewer’s voice praises the band’s revivalist psych-pop instincts, noting a 21st century facelift that keeps the pace relentless and the melodies infectious. With nimble Beatles and Indian flourishes threaded through, the best tracks on Wormslayer reward repeated listens as their textures and hooks unfurl. This is a record that feels like a band hitting its stride, both respectful of the past and invigorated for now.
Key Points
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Broke As Folk is the best song because it is called an album highlight and compared favorably to The Doors with an absorbing chorus.
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The album’s core strengths are its 1960s psychedelic pop revivalism, Beatles and Indian influences, and tight, joyful performances.
Themes
Critic's Take
Aaron hears Kula Shaker returning to full-throated mysticism on Wormslayer, a record that leans into wonder and spiritual excess. The reviewer frames the album as operatic and theatrical, where pastoral folk passages sit beside gothic melodrama, and heavier, mantra-like moments reward being played loud. He suggests the band have grown into their own mythology, making songs built for live performance rather than studio polish. For listeners asking "best tracks on Wormslayer," the record’s most vivid moments are its celestial harmonies and larger-than-life guitars that translate best onstage.
Key Points
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The best moments are the ones that feel built for loud, live performance, with celestial harmonies and oversized guitars.
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Wormslayer’s core strengths are its mysticism, theatrical ambition, and a band restored to its classic lineup and live energy.
Themes
Critic's Take
Kula Shaker’s Wormslayer feels like a confident continuation rather than a reset, and its best tracks reward patience. The opening “Lucky Number” sets the tone with hazy psychedelia tipping into glam rock, while “Shaunie” provides the album’s emotional core with Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young-style harmonies and quietly affecting lyrics. For best songs on Wormslayer, also listen to the title track “Wormslayer” for its seven-minute Eastern-into-psychedelic sweep, and the quietly beautiful “The Winged Boy” which unfolds into one of the record’s most grounded moments. This is a thoughtful, confident record that refines familiar ideas rather than simply revisiting them.
Key Points
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“Shaunie” is the best song because it supplies the album’s emotional core with understated, affecting delivery and harmonies.
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The album’s core strengths are its refined psychedelia, spiritual/Eastern textures, and willingness to expand familiar ideas rather than retread them.