Curse’s New Shimmering ‘Doomwave’ Album Cracks Open Somber Horizons

The Baltimore-area duo Curse sound like they have crafted a chronicle of our collective self-destruction on their new album Metamorphism, so if you’re hoping for an ambitious eulogy to go along with the sinking ship, you’re in luck. It’s a captivating experience of getting above the noise.

The band perform a kind of somber post-punk. Their largely electronic music reverberates with shimmers like each beat is a stone landing in a lake laden with muck. Jane Vincent’s cavernous vocals pack a similar depth as she sings from the perspective of the human species having ended up little more than a forgotten layer in the rock we now walk on, to use a particularly memorable lyrical picture from the latter part of Metamorphism. It’s an apparent look into the future, and that future does not seem to have been kind in response to human belligerence.

They call their style “doomwave,” and the description does fit. While the group include the sheen of decidedly “modern” electronics and industrial work, the very sounds themselves feel like they’re careening through the same caustic, doomed web that we’ve been trapped in out here in the “real world.” The sounds themselves spread out far and wide — it’s more like a sonic experience than simply a collection of songs. For an album that’s this forward-thinking — literally in terms of linear time, considering the lyrics tell tales of extinctions and more — each song lands with a remarkable grounded feeling. Elements from the vocals to the other sounds themselves feel carefully curated to communicate an accessible portrait of the impending destruction that we have wrought.

Turning on this album feels like someone who’s seen the other side — or at least what climate destruction remains on the other side and isn’t here already — is here to offer some insight and show you what’s happened. Metamorphism offers you a chance to go along for the ride. The music getting you there packs a remarkable amount of formidable power — its march onward never really lets up for the entire duration of the album, which ends with a memorable crash into screamed vocals and more directly intense music.

5/5 Stars

The album’s official release date is October 25. It’s available via Fake Crab Records — stream some below: