It’s taken a while for Cursed 13 (previously Cursed 666) to get to debut album stage, but as their “PR” sheet mutters “You probably don’t give a rat’s ass about ancient shit.” Worth looking it up yourself though if for no other reason than it gets you out of the habit of being spoon feed crap by cunts like Murdoch and Dacre. That suggestion may seem a million miles from Black Metal but if you stumbled on this album in the racks then the silhouetted front and black and white rear covers have more of a biker/sludge vibe full of post industrial decay. Even the logo looks more like a gang tatt.
But it is. ‘No Return ‘ begins with ominous riffing, some odd noises creeping around the edges before they grind and pound out a slow, dense miasma of cloying black metal, train sounds or something in the background and a rusted urban feel to its intense nihilistic approach. It is utterly convincing, as is follow up ‘Dead And Gone’ which kind if hints of later Gehenna. Excellent vocals, making me feel as though I’m tied to a chair as the unwashed prophet paces back and forth, punctuating his philosophy with blows from an iron bar.
‘Death N Roll’ does exactly what it says; mixes up black and death with a real groove, some Hannibal Lector lip smacking and some superb, articulate drumming. A curious lead break is utterly swallowed by the closing riff and leaves me with the feeling of it being the bastard cousin to Bloodlet’s ‘Holy Rolling Homicide’. Hardcore tinged black ‘n’ death ‘n’ roll.
Then we get a real glistening, poisonous, viciously nihilistic gem of a song in the frightening ‘I Love Cyanide’. Pure rolling, dead inside hate. I’m back in the chair, the preacher is there and three line from the PR hits home: ‘Black metal is not just music. I am not an atheist.’
Cursed 13 are an almost brilliantly deceptive band: Straightforward songs on the face of it, rippers in fact, until you begin to wonder why they are so compelling. From the exemplary, varied drumming that mixes blasting with a trip-hop snare to the compelling vocals and full on bass and densely, almost death metal riffing this is excellent something. Laced sparingly but effectively with odd noises from engines to clamouring voices they hit hard but leave enough complex scarring to bring you back for more. Add in that eleven songs don’t weigh up to more than 45 minutes and you have a trimmed album that retains the power to convince and to scare. Slowburners like ‘Seductress’ isolate you and keep you enthralled, ‘Requiem’ has punch and a roll that invigorates and the brace of closing songs ‘Agitator (Upptakt till Vrede) ‘ and ‘Vrede’ have a quasi-industrial which jolts without going over the top and feeling like another band. Handled well, they bring us out the other side with a final charge.
Conviction, touch, and flair, Cursed 13 manage them all within a black as tar heart. Really, as fine a debut as I’ve heard this year from the black metal region. We’ll worth it.
(8/10 Gizmo)
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