According to the lore text at the bottom of the card, the creatures are trapped on a rock (possibly an asteroid.) Someone left behind an encrypted log recording the existence of slivers, either an unlucky explorer or, perhaps, a scientist involved in experimenting with the creatures, which would be a nice callback to the Riptide Project
Skullmulcher has good potential and goes well with the counter theme
The rest of the deck is fully on theme, as even a good amount of the removal in the deck creates a zombie in one way or another (Enter the God-Eternals, Syphon Flesh, Cruel Revival)
One of the best all round threats the deck has and one of the few ways you can attack for lethal on turn three without a Cranial Plating or sacrificing all your artifacts
The enters-the-battlefield ability, on the other hand, is completely inspiring since it allows you to ramp by putting the best land out of the top five cards of your library onto the battlefield