I grew up in an era when heavy metal as a basic concept was feared. I can laugh at it now, and I’m sure if I said that directly to younger listeners, they’d roll their eyes because there are so many things legitimately more frightening than this style of music. But that doesn’t mean there aren’t band that are utterly terrifying that scorch you to your nuts and bolts.
Fun story: The first time I ever heard Black Curse I was on my way to a root canal appointment way out of town at the beginning of the lockdown because it was the only dentist office that would see me. I absorbed their 2020 debut “Endless Wound” on that trip and during the procedure, and it fried my brains. No nitrous oxide either! Fast forward four years and the band—vocalist/guitarist Eli Wendler, guitarist Jonathan Campos, bassist Morris Kolontyrsky, drummer Antinom—who also dot lineups including Blood Incantation, Khemmis, Spectral Voice, and Primitive Man, is back with “Burning With Celestial Poison,” a five-track, 45-minute destroyer that is heavier and hungrier than their debut and overflowing with torturous madness that will eat away at your brain. Seriously.
“Spleen Girt With Serpent” opens the record and runs a healthy 10:51, firing up and ripping right through your mid-section. Molten chaos unfurls as a cacophony of chaos emerges, making it feel like your brain is oozing black goo, yes, just like Papa Shango used to conjure. Ugh, WWF, early ’90s. From there, the fires engulf fully, gargantuan pounding doing the bidding as lava rages, and you do your best to avoid knife swipes in the dark. The drums echo as regal blackness unfurls, the howls warping as a vicious wave pulls everything under. “Trodden Flesh” is the longest track, weighing in at 11:47, and it’s eerie at first before guts are stomped, shrieks scarring as the pace pulls back just a bit to let the bruising sink in. The next wave burns you to a crisp, a wild explosion of violent insanity dominating, the band thrashing with merciless intent, pulling guts from mouths, absolutely enforcing its will, the guitars catching fire yet again and burning into oblivion.
“Ruinous Paths…” stampedes, the drums rampaging, guitars racing and keeping pace expertly. That all combusts into violence, glorious savagery having its way with your psyche, howls battering along the way. The playing gets dizzying, which is understandable as the room surely is spinning, and then the drums turn rock to dust, the decimation becoming a manic burst right into “… to Babylon” that strangles with black filth. It’s a total blackout, your mind being bombarded with relentless sound and fury, inhuman screams lathering with psychotic breaks, the playing pounding without a hint of mercy until its frosty finish. “Flowers of Gethsemane” closes this monster, an 11:09-long demon that ramps up the anxiety before a blazing front devours serenity whole, bursting and brutalizing with no hopes of a breath. The vocals engorge as the tempo swallows you whole, gutting as the gas pedal is jammed through the floor, the playing shredding any sense of psychological well-being you have left. From there, the playing causes a temporary deep freeze, but a raucous onslaught ends all of that, opening the flood gates for an acidic last push that mains.
“Burning in Celestial Poison” is a diseased beast striking at your throat in complete delirium. You don’t know what’s happening; the animal is sick. Black Curse is not an easy entity to confront, and doing so only is recommended if you fully understand what’s in front of you as you encounter this force. Yeah, it’s a metal record. But it’s much more than that, and entering its terrain unprepared will leave you ravaged beyond your comprehension.
For more on the band, go here: https://blackcurse-svr.bandcamp.com/
To buy the album, go here: http://www.sepulchralvoice.de/shop/
For more on the label, go here: http://www.sepulchralvoice.de/
Meat Mead Metal 