Almost four months into the year and we have ANOTHER heavy metal supergroup? The ones so far aren’t anything to sleep on either. Sightless Pit brought together three corners of experimental metal, Lingua Ignota, Full of Hell, and The Body, for an eclectic fusion of out-there madness. Godthrymm reunited past members of My Dying Bride with members of Solstice and Anathema for a straight-forward, Paradise Lost-esque doom metal epic filled with dread and sorrow. Now we have the death metal supergroup, Black Curse. What could possibly happen when you mix the technical violence of Spectral Voice’s Eli Wendler on guitar and vocals and Morris Kolontyrsky (also from Blood Incantation) on bass with modern sludge lords Primitive Man’s Jonathan Campos on guitar and doom band Khemmis’s Zach Coleman on drums? Absolute hell.

There’s no way around it, this is HEAVY. Definitely up there for heaviest record of the year so far with only Serpent Column above them. That comparison isn’t even fair though. Serpent Column’s heaviness is defined by their airtight technicality that is layered into cacophonous walls of instrumentation where as Black Curse utilizes a damp and thunderous production over its bass and percussion. It creates a cavernous hellscape wrapped around the guitars and vocals that is bound to drive someone mad. The production also gives a record an aesthetic of brooding anger which fits Jonathan Campos’s sludgier guitar work that he is known for. Such extremity though is a double-edged sword. On the positive side it creates explosions of sound that assault the listener. On the other hand, it leaves some songs sounding one-dimensional and undercooked. It ends up eliminating too much of the dynamics at times making otherwise solid playing feel weak and uninteresting.

Luckily the first and last tracks along with the second longest track, “Enraptured by Decay”, which is located in the middle are among the best off of Endless Wound. I do not know if it was intentional, but the placements of the more multi-faceted tracks at the beginning, middle, and end help retain attention when the rest of the tracks in between are simpler with their methods of retaining the violent nature of the record. The opener “Charnel Rift” is the shortest of these three tracks but still clocks in with five minutes of distorted riffage. It also features the most diverse compositions switching between relentless blast beats, doomy riffs that sway over double-kick drumming, slow brooding passages, and a collection of mind-melting guitar flares that appear across each segment and devolve into spastic discordance at the end with that intense climax. I really wish Black Curse put as much effort as they put into this track alone into the rest of the tracks here because “Charnel Rift” is a blackened death gem. Still these songs are good in their own right like “Crowned in (Floral) Vice” which follows with intensity and subsides near the middle into a brooding segment that eases into droning air that is still heavy before erupting near the back end. Unfortunately such intensity doesn’t change much even with the refrain separating it into two.

Next there’s “Enraptured by Decay” which utilizes Black Curse’s subtle doom influences the best aside its hellish blackened death madness. When it backs off with slow quarter notes that drag on with uncanny tremolo picking hidden in the back just for the drums to pick up speed and energetically crash back into the cascades of aggression, it is glorious. Also the last two minutes features liberal usage of echo delay on the whispery growls and the instrumentation surrounding it to create an infernal trance of sorts. Following it is “Seared Eyes” which is a rapid display of brutality and nothing else. The blackened elements take full stage with versatile blasts beat and the occasional refrain with only distant tremolo picking which sounds cool under their production style but is also nothing new to black metal. After it is the shortest track “Lifeless Sanctum” which is just under three minutes. Honestly it feels more like an interlude you’d hear on a blackened death record with excessive song lengths with its slow, creeping chord progressions that doesn’t lead to anything of interest.

Not much changes with “Endless Wound” which sounds like a minisculely less heavier “Seared Eyes” with its unwavering aggression that could benefit from more diversity. It does feature more dynamic refrains and breakdowns, but also the vocals are at their most peculiar having a spitting hiss to them that is washed out by the thunderous production. Finally there’s the closing track “Finality I Behold” which uses its almost nine minute length to recapture all the ideas preceding it. The arrangements are nothing new nor adventurous, but are solid with their pacing and transitions. Also the trotting drums at the end that grow in intensity with screeching solos gliding across them make for an epic ending.

I see Black Curse’s Endless Wound as a vile gourmet sandwich. Holding together the sandwich are three pieces of lightly toasted brioche buns that are then thrown onto the ground and kicked into a puddle of mud and oil that is lit on fire. Within the sandwich is pure black sludge oozing out. Not the prettiest metaphor, but it fits this record’s personification of hell. Chocked full of anger and turmoil, it just doesn’t let up even in its doom influences. Sure there are dud moments in comparison to the grand-scheme of the involved artists’ capabilities and death metal as a whole, but as mentioned before the placements of the more versatile tracks help hold it together and create interest throughout a single listen so it is not completely lost. Endless Wound is still a badass record full of ungodly heaviness no matter how you look at it and worth a listen.

Best Tracks: “Charnel Rift”; “Enraptured by Decay”; “Finality I Behold”

Worst Track: “Lifeless Sanctum”

Rating: 7/10

Released: 04/24/2020

Label: Sepulchral Voice Records

Genres: Blackened Death Metal, Blackened Doom, Sludge Metal

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RATING SCALE

Perfect Excellent Great Very Good Good Meh Disappointing Bad Horrible Pitiful Bottom of the Barrel