Curse you sir!

Cursed are without a hint of doubt in my mind among the best heavy bands on the planet circa 2008, they are also one of the most criminally overlooked, and deserve to be huge

Their debut on Deathwishinc way back in 2003 (the imaginatively titled I) is simply a masterpiece and has remained in my regular rotation eversince. By stitching the crust of His Hero is Gone and the speed of Discharge, to the groove and gristle of early Entombed, Cursed created one of the freshest (not the word for such a fetid combination) sounding punk records of the past ten years! In fact its probably one of the punkest records in recent memory, punk in the very sense of the word!This record recklessly careens across genres with complete disregard for decency or politics, taking in elements of hxc, thrash, doom, noise and even some black metal (especially in some of the chords and progressions); however, it all sounds natural nothing sits at odds within these compositions imagine if all your records inexplicably melted into one giant black slick to create a new record so black and heavy that nothing could escape its terrible grooves. Lead off track Polygraph has one of the best opening couplets in recent memory, and tracks such as Bloody Mary, 1974 and God and Country are catchy as hell and eloquently written.



Not only is it a damn fine record but it is topped off with one of the best productions and pieces of design i have seen. The sound is a perfect example of a raw live sounding recording done just right, the guitars are so deep and heavy but without sacrificing that top end crackle and crunch, but its drum sound that gets me everytime which simply sound pulverising. The design handled by Jacob Bannon is also a nice touch in that its simplicity and elegance (and thankfully devoid of skulls) and complements the feel of the record nicely, without being literal.

Why bring this up? Because they are about to unleash their third slab of mutant tar-thick misery upon us in the shape of III : Architects of troubled sleep, and whilst i have yet to hear it (it was leaked weeks ago and the temptation to download it has been excruciating to bear) you better believe i pre-ordered this badboy the second it became available. If you have yet to experience these perennially pissed off Canadians do yourself a favour and buy their new album and while your at it pick up this and their second album.


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