By Tim Bolitho-Jones
At first glance, War Curse didn’t do a whole lot to impress us. ‘Eradication,’ their second full length, came across as just another generic thrash record, one of hundreds that have emerged in the last decade waving the flag for the Bay Area template. Sure, they won a few points by sharing a name with a Kreator song but otherwise seemed destined to disappear into the over-cluttered “re-thrash” scene from which they’d emerged.
But after a few more spins, that changed. So much so that ‘Eradication’ now seems fresh and invigorating, even if it does trade in genre tropes that were overdone by 1989. These are eight tracks of rewarding and mature heavy metal, consistently good from start to finish and they make War Curse one of the most exciting bands thrash has given us in recent years.
They’ve also managed to attract a few marginally-famous faces to support them. Members of Heathen and Forbidden crop up to play guitar solos, while Exhorder frontman Kyle Thomas adds his throaty roar to ‘Deadly Silence.’ His vocal sparring with singer Blaine Gordon makes for a high-testosterone mosh-inducer; this one is a late-album highlight that begs you to hit the repeat button.
As cool as it is to see a few veterans of the scene turning up to pass the proverbial torch, War Curse themselves are the stars of the show. They’ve managed to completely avoid the crossover style and prefer their songs to go on a bit. These tracks are long, expansive and if War Curse write a good riff, why play it twice when they can do so eight times? Occasionally this makes them reminiscent of Overkill or a slightly more aggressive version of Reign Of Fury, but enough of their own personality shines through to make them more than copycats.
Again though, we can’t stress how much this album needs to be played more than once. The choruses are catchy enough even if none of them are an instant-anthem, but it’s only on repeat plays that you notice the level of work that’s gone in here. ‘Serpent’ for instance is a song with an exceptional sense of pace, fast-paced, razor-edged brutality transitioning into a slightly groovier midsection, only to be consumed by a lightning-fingered solo in the final act. This is not just one-dimensional meat and potatoes thrash, it’s a vibrant and well-crafted piece of work with more depth than is immediately apparent.
It’s not alone either, as ‘Sands Of Fate,’ ‘Iron Veil,’ the title track and just about everything here hits the bullseye. Closing epic ‘Polluted Minds’ meanwhile is a huge finish, bringing the album to a squealing, bone-breaking climax. ‘Eradication’ isn’t an instant fix, but we’ve lived with it on repeat for a week now and it’s hard to imagine a better thrash album coming out this year. Please sir, can we have some more humble pie?
- ‘Eradication’ is out now. You can get your copy HERE.
www.facebook.com/warcursemetal/
- All content © Über Rock. Not to be reproduced in part or in whole without the express written permission of Über Rock.