Artist: Curse
Title: Void Above, Curse Below
Type: Album
Label: Schwarzdorn Productions

What do we have here? Some more Norwegian Black Metal. Does this mean some more boring recycled junk that is impossible to write more than a couple of sentences about? I’m sceptical, but the first sounds/riffs on ‘Void Above, Abyss Below’ convince and I listen up. What we have here is a much more punky than the usual orthodox second wave material, with even a Venom and Motorhead edge to it. Curse has existed in some form or another since ‘95 (formed in Iceland under a different name), the band considers this album a kind of rebirth, employing a new “writing formula” and a “whole new direction”. As I am oblivious of the bands past output, this suits me fine.

This album, lasts just over 36 minutes and was written and recorded in 42 days with half of the material being improvised. According to the press sheet this “proved to be the right step” which they intend to follow in the future. Now I’m a believer in the creation of great things on-the-spot, the ‘heat-of-the-moment’, if you will, can call forth great things as the artist becomes possessed with power of metal music; nothing wrong with that at all. However, despite the fact the results of these sorts of improvised sessions can bear delicious ear-fruits, it is also important to remember that by now most riffs in this genre have already been written by thousands of bands with shared idols. This is where most groups fail, as they simply do not put in enough work to make their work stand out. Improvise all you want, but if you do not work on your material and give it time to mature; you will never make a great record. Whilst Curse is a really good listen and there’s a great vibe to the whole thing, I cannot but think that there might have been much more potential to this stuff. In this day and age when bands such as Negative Plane, Sonne Adam and Weapon (just to name a few) are releasing breathtaking records, this just doesn’t come close.

So whilst I’ve blabbered on about a very broad dilemma with Black Metal nowadays, what can be concluded, you may ask? Well, it’s punky Black Metal, with some melodic and even symphonic elements appearing from time to time. The riffs and leads are really cool and dark, and catchy too. The problem is, as mentioned above, that it does not elevate in any way above the masses of bands that are doing the same thing today. And as far as I gather from their ‘teaser’ video on their MySpace, they don’t take themselves seriously at all either, walking the road of a parody band a la Legalize Murder (a section in the video describes them as being ‘sick’, which is followed by a clip of the two band members vomiting really unconvincingly, apparently attempting to be hilarious (?) – at least this is the impression I get). I do not share this adoration for Black Metal comedy, so despite first liking what I heard, maybe this promo fell into the hands of the wrong reviewer. Maybe I lack the necessary sense of irony? But let us conclude: it is very solid album of old school black metal. Cheers.

http://curse.helviti.com