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This Gift Is A Curse

This Gift Is A Curse EP

Written by: PP on 24/11/2010 01:40:34

Since I started with a couple of monster heavy releases earlier this week, it feels only natural to continue with another dense-as-fuck band, the sludgy, brooding hardcore unit This Gift Is A Curse from Stockholm, Sweden. Now, our neigbors are mostly known for their melodic bands no matter how extreme the genre, but This Is A Curse are a bit of an exception to the rule. Their brand of hardcore is painstakingly slow and progressive - think something along the lines of Dead Hearts - and contains a doomsday-like atmosphere that is created by some seriously sludgy guitars. In many places they feel like a sludge/hardcore version of Japanese atmospheric noise-masters envy, though far louder and more abrasive in every way, providing a dense, layered wall of sound that slowly builds itself towards an explosive climax.

Their self-titled, four-track EP happens to also be their debut EP, and for that they must be commended. Few bands are so successful in creating as dark and richly detailed soundscape as This Gift Is A Curse do here, let alone on their first ever release. Kudos. Thanks to the varying drum patterns and the slowly building up, droning guitars, the band creates a strangely prophetic atmosphere where you're just waiting for something crushing to come down any second now. If you've ever heard songs by the Swiss mountain-crushers Knut, you know exactly what I'm talking about. Still, you can tell that the band are still a bit of a work in progress. There's lots of potential here, but more time needs to be spent on refining the soundscapes to perfection. I feel like the climaxes I mentioned could be much stronger and more effective. All in all a very decent debut, however.

Download: Voulets Dream
For the fans of: Meleeh, Moloken, Dead Hearts
Listen: Myspace

Release date 14.10.2010
Discouraged Records