This Gift is a Curse
s/t
Discouraged Records
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
