Hamden,
Connecticut outfit
Curse the Son have been knocking around for what seems like forever which is no mean feat given they exist in a scene not renowned for the longevity of its bands. In their time together
Curse the Son have a accrued a healthy reputation for delivering quality material, from the bands first
EP to the album we are going to be reviewing today
Curse the Son have hardly put a foot wrong. It does then seem strange that despite the respect and admiration they have garnered over the years that the band have not quite made that leap to the top of pile where bands like
Clutch,
Elder and
Monster Magnet currently reside. That could all change with "
Delirium" (
Ripple Music) an album that sees
Curse the Son not so much shrugging off the
proto-doom that has served them so well but hugging it tighter than they have ever done before while at the same time also bringing to the table a host of new textures and colours, creating in the process an
American doom classic worthy of being mentioned in the same breath as those iconic albums by the likes of
Saint Vitus,
The Obsessed and
Pentagram
Opening number "
The Suffering Is Ours" draws not from the well of
Sabbath, as so many songs in this scene do, but draws instead from the sound that was created by those
American bands inspired by
Sabbath. The songs dynamic is of course
doomic and heavy but leaves at the door any pretence at being
bluesy or having that jazzy swing thing going on, if their is any swing to be found here it is not to be found in the songs bass lines or drumming, all of which are laid down heavy and thunderous, it is to be found in its vocals which posses a lilting melodic quality. Up next we get "
Deliberate Cruelty (The Extermination Song)" and here we DO get that "
swing" thing going on in the drums, bass and guitar but also little vestiges of "
out there in the cosmos" experimentation. Next we come to the track that most, if not all, will be coming back to again and again, "
RIP" is classic
proto-doom, a
Witchfinder General cover with verses, a chorus and a bridge that will stay with you until you shuffle off this mortal coil, there will be those who say that you can never improve on an original song...well they cannot have heard this then. "
Riff Forest", an instrumental, is exactly what it says it is.. a dense onslaught of dark and
doomy riffage driven by pummelling percussion that is then followed by "
In Dismal Space" a sometimes full on sometimes spacious assault on the senses that mixes
psychedelic doom with gnarled
stoner metal to create a groove that is in turns brutal and in turns atmospheric, it's also in possession of a great vocal. There is an element of "
tune in turn on and drop out" about the hazy lysergic and trippy "
Brain Paint" while title track "
Delirium" is probably
Curse the Son at their creative best, slightly off the wall and quirky yet still in full possession of the
doomic heaviness that has become their calling card. Second to last we get "
May Cause Drowsiness" a ridiculously brief mood piece that feels like it is over before it even gets started. Final number "
Liste Of The Dead" sees
Curse the Son put all the spaciousness and trippiness of the albums later stages behind them and go full on
doom with low slow reverberating riffage, thundering percussion and clean powerful vocals to the fore, the songs only downside being that it is allowed to fade out rather than come to a satisfying full stop.
Do not go dismissing Curse the Son as another of those Sabbath worshipping bands as they are far from being that, yes they do work in a similar field of music but their sound, when not spiralling off into hazy and lysergic territories, is much more an American take on doom, a sound inspired more by Wino than it is Iommi. Having said that there are many places on "Delirium" where the doom takes a slight back seat for a much more experimental and expansive dynamics and it is in those places that Curse the Son really push the envelope of what can be done within the confines of the doom genre.
Check it out....
© 2024 Frazer Jones
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