Cursed are a Canadian hardcore band born in 2001, including former and current members of The Swarm, Left For Dead, Shallow North Dakota, and the legendary (for their incredibly rare and equally violent live shows) Haymaker. Their new album, Cursed III, out on Goodfellow Records, is a thrash masterpiece, with a sort of “Deathwish” edge to it (which, I guess, should be kind of obvious, considering Deathwish put out their first record).
It opens with a sound collage. “Architects of Troubled Sleep” sets the mood for the album, but honestly, on every listen after the first, I've found myself skipping it. The urgings to “Go shopping. Go back the mall. Go back to your normal lives,” are the kind of thing I'm really sick of hearing on punk records, in any context. It's just not really all that clever anymore, and I just kind of tune it out, at this point.
Thankfully, “Night Terrors” busts down the door with lightning fast drumming, aggressive guitars and some of the angriest vocals put to tape in recent memory. Lyrically, it sticks to the theme of dreams set forth by the first track.
The next track, “Magic Fingers” is an unashamedly anti-organized religion rant shouted over fast, sludgy riffing and some solid, technical drumming and some of the best lyrics on the album.
“Antihero Resuscitator” is thrash at its finest. And it's about where the album starts slowing down. “Friends in the Music Business” is a song about sycophants over a downtuned doomy sludge with the vocals cutting through, ending with a chant of “Don't call me; I won't call you,” shouted at the top of Chris Colohan's lungs.
“Into the Hive” picks up a little bit of speed, but keeps the sludge intact. The lyrics are about people who choose to live oblivious to the suffering around them by doing everything money can buy to shield themselves from having to look at it. But the speed doesn't last very long. “III” is a slow, sludgy instrumental that serves as a lead-in to “Unnecessary Person,” a sludge epic in four minutes.
“Hegel's Bastards” is another fast song with dystopian lyrics. It's pretty rare that you actually hear a hardcore band referencing Hegel in any way. Not so rare that you hear them reference Orwell, however.
“Dead Air at the Pulpit” is a rant against the people who profit off the faith of others. One of the more obvious and straightforward songs on this record (although, most of the songs here are pretty straightforward). It's another fast one, and it's over in less than two minutes.
The album ends with a seven-minute instrumental, “Gutters.” It ends the album in a fitting way: something that sounds like a fuzzed-out funeral dirge. It doesn't really go anywhere, but it kind of feels like that's the point.
All in all, Cursed III is a damn solid dystopian hardcore album by a band from whom you should expect no less. Fans of bands like Converge, Orchid, and just general gimmick-free, awesome metallic hardcore without the stupid haircuts or the tough-guy posturing will will love this.
Unfortunately, I kind of dropped the ball on getting this up in time for the European tour they're on right now, and by the time I realized they were on it, they were playing their last UK date. But here are the rest of the dates:
03-5 Lyon/France @ Warm Audio
04-5 Milan/Italy @ The Garage
05-5 Vienna/Austria @ Arena
06-5 Prague/Czech Republic @ 007
07-5 Nurnberg/Germany @ K4/Zentralcafe
08-5 Dornbirn/Austria @ Schlachthaus
09-5 Karlsruhe/Germany @ Jubez
10-5 Meerhout/Belgium @ Groezrock
11-5 Groningen/Netherlands @ Vera
12-5 Hamburg/Germany @ Hafenklang
13-5 Gothenburg/Sweden @ Sticky Fingers
14-5 Oslo/Norway @ Garage
15-5 Stockholm/Sweden @ Debaser + Disfear + Rotten Sound
16-5 Malmö/Sweden @ Debaser + Disfear + Rotten Sound
17-5 Berlin/Germany @ Cassiopeia
18-5 Mülheim/Germany @ AZ
19-5 Amsterdam @ Bitterzoet
-Soup
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