Tomorrow night on July 12 Club It's a Trap! presents the hardcore stylings of Stockholm-based heavies This Gift is a Curse plus local boys Vervain at Debaser Malmö! Be there!
Cult Nation reviews the new album "I, guilt bearer" from This Gift is a Curse: http://www.cvltnation.com/i-guilt-bearer-this-gift-is-a-curse-lp-review/
I finally figured out the thing that was nagging me about this record -- a lot of the vocals remind me of the Deftones. It's not necessarily a bad thing, it's more that the styles don't meld.
Get past the undistinguished vocals and you'll be rewarded with some killer crusty, blackened sludge. Better yet, wait until the coda when the vocals drop out completely and the organ comes it and prepare to be obliterated by total heaviness. Don't be fooled by the false ending either, somehow they manage to take it up yet another notch before the actual finale happens. This Gift is a Curse's full-length debut "I, guilt bearer" will be officially released on May 11 via .
OMG! Just confirmed for Tuesday, June 5 at Debaser Malmö: Soviac + Tennis Bafra + ÅBE! A five-star lineup of indierock allstars, all in the same place at the same time! And that's not that all, we've also got heavy crust-metallers This Gift is a Curse and hardcore act Vervain on Thursday, July 12! And let us not forget Division of Laura Leein May with Anchor and Keep Shelly in Athens! Get stoked, people.
reports that Swedish sludge-metal act This Gift Is A Curse has completed work on their debut album which is currently being mixed. No word on a release date yet, but they'll be hitting the road in October for a number of dates with Italian act Curse this Ocean:
10/14 - Cafe Nova, Essen (GER)
10/15 - Sub, Graz (AUS)
10/16 - This is Underground, Vicenza (ITA)
10/17 - Corso Pub, Chelm (POL)
10/18 - Irish & Music Club, CLuj Napoca (RO)
10/19 - Houseshow, Pesc (HUN)
10/20 - Szabad az Á, Budapest (HUN)
10/21 - tba (ITA)
10/22 - Ak 44, Gießen (GER)
From the minute This Gift is a Curse's debut EP opens, there's a sense of impending dread that heightens further as it progresses. It starts off with a dark ambient intro that is cut short with a doomy passage bordering on a sludgy black metal aesthetic and, despite not really wavering from a single tempo, it works really well. It's got a vibe about it that cries Red Harvest and it wouldn't sound out of place on the likes of "Sick transit gloria mundi". The rest of the disc is very like a more abrasive version of Will Haven, both in terms of music and vocal output. It's a lot darker than most material that the Sacramento four-piece have released, no doubt down to the more extreme influences evident here. Take "Althea" for example: an eerie opening that's definitely of the avantgarde persuasion, moving into a slow Khold-type post-intro intro before embarking on the main body of the song, a trudging slab of Will Haven with that characteristic vocal playing off the beat. The main parts of closing track "Voulet's dream" is even more in the WH vein than WH themselves and, far from being a criticism is an absolute gem of a song for fans of that style. Even though this only gets as fast as mid-paced it's probably best described as metalcore with a grindcore sentiment. We even have a Barney Greenway"Morale" vocal on the end, so that's all the more justification for the grind tag. Not original by any means, but bloody good stuff. - John Norby
Ok, here's another band that Moloken is touring with (dates posted here, but check myspace for the latest -- they are playing at Ungdomens Hus in Uppsala tonight). This Gift is a Curse aren't just tourmates though, they're also on Moloken's label who co-released the group's new self-titled EP in cooperation with TGIAC's own imprint . The association makes good sense too, as both bands play dark, sludgy metal, though TGIAC forgoes the technical wizardry that makes Moloken stand out. Instead, we get brutal repetitive riffs, far darker melodies and a heavier dismal crust vibe. Problem is, the recording on the EP sounds like they scooped out all the low end and buried the kick. Listen to the part on the intro of "The big sleep" where it's supposed to hit like a ton of bricks and it comes off more like a tap on the shoulder. Even stranger, this was recorded by Tomas Skorsberg at the famed Sunlight Studios which is normally a mark of high quality. I suspect that This Gift is a Curse are more than adequately crushing in-person and the songs themselves are good, but I'm having a really hard time getting past the recording.
Norrland crust/metal/prog act Moloken, a 2009 favorite, are touring Scandinavia later this month and one of the bands they're playing a string of dates with is Finnish act Radar. Generally speaking, I'm not too crazy about their style of post-metal, but the new EP they recently sent me has a pretty cool 3D cover and the included glasses allowed me to properly view Robyn's video for "Don't fucking tell me what to do", so that's gotta be worth something -- hence this post. It's kind of weird, in the space of a month of so I got a whole bunch of new music in a similar vein and, again -- while not being a huge fan of this stuff, was pleasantly surprised to find it all to be of above-average quality. I already covered Kausal who might just be the best of the lot, but Radar are pretty decent too despite one major piccadillo: I don't care if you want to sing cleanly or scream harshly, but please don't try to do both. 99% of the time it sucks and Radar are no exception. Individually, they do fine with each style... when performed together, it's way corny. That's why I'm posting a track with purely melodic vocals for fellow discerning listeners -- you get the heaviness and the glory and none of the distracting bullshit. RIYL Khoma!
Oh, and those Moloken tourdates:
09/15 - L'Orient, Linköping (SWE) w/This Gift is a Curse
09/16 - Sugar Bar, Stockholm (SWE) w/This Gift is a Curse
09/17 - Ungdomens Hus, Uppsala (SWE) w/This Gift is a Curse
09/18 - Ungdomens Hus, Oskarshamn (SWE) w/This Gift is a Curse
09/19 - tba, Karlskrona (SWE) w/This Gift is a Curse
09/23 - Nuclear Nightclub, Oulu (FIN) w/Radar
09/24 - Lutakko, Jyväskylä (FIN) w/Radar
09/25 - S-Osis, Turku (FIN) w/Radar
09/26 - Kuudes Linja, Helsinki (FIN) w/Radar
09/29 - tba (NOR) w/Manhattan Skyline
09/30 - tba (NOR) w/Manhattan Skyline
10/01 - Garage, Oslo (NOR) w/Manhattan Skyline
10/02 - Fru Lundgreen, Trondheim (NOR) w/Manhattan Skyline
has announced that they'll be releasing the debut EP from Swedish doom act This Gift is a Curse in early September in cooperation with the band's own label . Hear a couple samples at myspace: http://www.myspace.com/thisgiftisacurse
This Gift is a Curse