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Album Reviews : Cursed Earth – Enslaved by the Insignificant

By on March 6, 2016

a4257606662_10Enslaved By The Insignificant is the latest release from the West Australian hardcore/powerviolence quintet Cursed Earth.

The 5 piece have been making waves around the country since they burst onto the scene with their high energy, ultra heavy live show. Enslaved By The Insignificant goes some way to capturing the aggression and passion that has seen the relatively young band land main support slots on tours with Weekend Nachos and Code Orange as well as playing alongside the likes of Hierophant, Black Cobra , Jucifer, Lo! & Forstora in their native city of Perth.

The release is 11 tracks long yet manages to wrap itself up in under 20 minutes. The shortest track is a meagre 60 seconds long, whilst the ‘sprawling epic’ on the disk, “Suffocation”, runs in at 02:13. This is straight up, no nonsense stuff that is bursting at the seams with powerful riffing, in your face drumming and hate filled vocal deliveries.

Hardcore and powerviolence are some pretty broad ranging genres and do go some way to describing Cursed Earth’s sound, but I’d recommend putting aside any preconceived ideas of genre or stereotype before giving this album a spin. The HM-2 drenched riffing on this release will have any heavy music fan’s head nodding. At times its ultra quick and almost grind like. At other times the chugging riffs are so monstrous that fans of straight up death metal will be unable to deny the legitimacy of the material. Fans of more traditional hardcore will tremble at their knees.

Whilst all of the tracks aside from just two of them have been released previously, it makes a lot of sense that they should be released together under a shared title as they flow exceptionally well when presented as a collective. The remastering on this release give the tracks a undeniable cohesiveness.

Perhaps the biggest compliment I can pay Cursed Earth is that their brand of heavy music seems to defy a genre or stereotype. This release is short but sweet and is able to hold my interest throughout. 20 minutes isn’t a large investment in time, so I’d recommend that you take the time to give the album a spin and see what all the fuss is about. You’ll find yourself hitting repeat time and time again.

About

Chris is a long time metal enthusiast and advocate for Australian heavy music scene. Chris grew up in Perth, Western Australia and is a past member of modern melodeath act Let's Kill Uncle. Currently residing in London, UK.