CURSE OF DENIAL - The Reckoning EP
Redefining Darkness Records
When it comes to death metal this year I've been listening to and liking a lot of acts who've been pushing boundaries as long as they stay within the genre template. But every once in a while a fan like me needs to hear something old school and brutal just to keep the evil grin going. Even better when a band doing that keeps things simple and not overblown.
Case in point, here's the latest EP from Cleveland, Ohio's CURSE OF DENIAL. I learned about this band from their second full length, Coming For Your Soul, which came out 2019. It was also in my top five favorite albums from that year. It was the best death metal album of 2019 in my not so humble opinion. I called it "Blackened Death from Middle America but with so much more extreme metal influences it's gonna break your neck."
So with that said how does a band follow up on what I'd call perfection. Well this five song EP is not far off the mark. Basically CURSE OF DENIAL just continued on with creating punishing death metal but with cool tweaks here and there that makes their sound enjoyable to the old school crowd. Then again with said "tweaks" they easily spark interest to those from modern DM appreciation.
Their songs are still touching on blackened death aesthetics which is cool. They have a tech death song structure style which is great because they don't go overblown about it. I've gotta say songs like "Variant" and "Tyrants" strike a chord with me personally for some obvious reasons in 2021. But anyways along with the guitar soloing being diabolic, some headbanging rhythms, a mix of brutal and harsh vocals and some added death doom touches. Yeah this is a winner in my horrible book.
http://www.redefiningdarkness.com/
LISTEN HERE:
https://curse-of-denial.bandcamp.com/album/the-reckoning
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