Review Summary: Pure devastation.
Black Curse is so back, baby. It feels like an eternity since their debut LP
Endless Wound graced our ears. Over 4 years is no small amount of time in between albums. But it was definitely worth the wait because
Burning in Celestial Poison tops the fantastic debut in every way.
The initial thing I noticed about this album is that it is pure devastation in musical form. The riffs immediately rain down upon your unsuspecting skull like the bombs that dropped on Hiroshima leaving you dazed and confused and it never lets up, not even for a second. I don’t quite know if I’d call this war metal, but war is all I can think of while jamming it. The blizzard of blast beats and chaotic trems will literally leave you feeling dizzy. Its hard to keep up with the barrage of insane technicality paired with a paranoid schizophrenic atmosphere and insanely painstaking shrieks and growls that sound as if they're literally being conjured from beyond the bloody grave.
Honestly the overall vibe of Black Curse’s sophomore effort is way more akin to the dirty and raw late 80s/early 90s black metal scene than anything else. Most of the riffage is still rooted in death metal but this will have you feeling like you’re listening to Sarcofago in their prime. The production is definitely a main highlight here with everything complementing one another to form one cohesive mammoth of an album. The atmosphere is just top notch, and while I definitely wouldn’t put this in the dissonant death metal category, I’ll say that it is for sure super dense and heavier than Randy Marsh’s balls after he put them in the microwave on that one South Park episode.
As someone who loved (and still loves) Black Curse’s debut, I can’t argue with facts….and the fact is that
Burning in Celestial Poison is a step up in every way. They upped the technicality while not sacrificing any of the heaviness or brutality. They’ve also upped the black metal influence to pair with that brutality which is a plus in my mind and a great equalizer. This here is an AOTY contender my friends and I guarantee you won’t be able to put it down.
