After releasing two ferociously promising demos almost a decade ago, the Swedish black thrashers known as Curse simply disappeared. According to Felix Lundkvist, the band’s drummer, “Curse was disbanded indefinitely for personal reasons in 2012. We were heading towards different things in life. It was not until we came across our new guitarist M. Snake in late 2018 that we started to make new music. About four months later we found our bassist, an old friend who wanted to make music that we felt like we wanted to record.”
Let’s thank the morning star then otherwise Curse’s brand new apex shredder would never have come to exist. Titled The Awakening… and the Old, this new Curse EP counts six tracks of tightly vicious, classically catchy and highly listenable black thrash power.
“Before we even talked about a full length album we were trying to find a sound that represents where we are at this point,” says Felix. “The sound was pretty much determined before entering the studio. Since we did a live recording, the sound was almost the same as in the rehearsal. Some tweaks were made but nothing major to the overall sound.
“The songs [themselves] are stories of how we portray different parts in history,” continues Felix. “For instance the song ‘I Am Death’ refers to the black death that [ravaged] Europe in the 14th century but it can easily be compared with the Covid-19 [pandemic] that’s happening right now. A disease that is spreading beyond our comprehension.”
The Awakening… and the Old
The Awakening… and the Old comes out this Friday on cassette from American pandemonium, Redefining Darkness Records. According to Felix, Curse “were searching for some cover art and came across Hellish, a digital artist on Instagram. We decided to buy a cover art from him, which then became the cover art for The Awakening… and the Old. Hellish then shared on Instagram that we bought the art and also shared a link to our music. Shortly after Thomas from Redefining Darkness contacted us about wanting to make the album happen.”
Like everyone else in the world, Curse are currently under quarantine, but, Felix says the band “are figuring out what the next step is in terms of new music. For now we are taking it slow due to quarantine but the goal is to have new songs ready to be recorded this fall or early next year.”
Preorder The Awakening… and the Old from Redefining Darkness Records.
