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INFERNAL CURSE
The End Upon Us EP

Iron Bonehead Productions (2014)
Rating: 7/10

Dressed in black hooded cloaks, Argentinian deathsters Infernal Curse have been clogging our ears since 2008. The trio have constructed a number of demos and EPs since their birth and in 2012 released their grotty full-length debut, Awakening Of The Damned.

It may take a brave man to hang around for this new four-track EP, which as expected boasts another slavering set of blackened doom metal tracks. From the grim, sludge-ridden vocals of Nocturnal to the gruesome bass clamour of Deicidal Abominator and that foetid drum fester of Bestial Offensor, this is one unholy racket that melts together grisly death metal belligerence, guttural, ghoulish nastiness and watery gloom.

Quite obviously glued together by some unnatural gooey substance of blackness, The End Upon Us just slithers along, swallowing all in its wake as if it were some unexpected plague sent forth from the rain-filled clouds. Each track leaks through the system and leaves terrible stains on the environment, such is its horrific nature.

We begin with the squalid title track where Nocturnal’s guitar sound leaves a trail of slime as it weaves between the ghastly drum slop and that rusty bass which moves akin to a glutinous yet animate cyst! ‘Lascivious Malevolence’ revels in its own morbidity – the band equally comfortable providing silted pace as well as gloomier, soil-drenched evil.

There is aggression throughout, even in those more sinister snares, although the combo find their (im)perfect niche with ‘Waters Of Phlegethon’, a track that begins as a lumbering buzz of simple yet effective drums and sinister dynamics before it picks up the pace and becomes a nuclear nightmare of grim black metal derangement summed up by the remote, gurgled vocals and rancid guitar bubble. The EP closes with a cover of Hadez’ ‘La Diosa Del Averno’, a mere scribble in comparison to the previous trio of torturous tracks.

Infernal Curse is a horrid bunch who has the appeal of spending the night in a well-soiled coffin, but such is the murky depth of this EP and their debut platter that one can’t help but take a dip into those oily pools. The band are masters at evoking images of dread, all channelled through those cavernous guitars and eerie, manky vocals. Certainly for fans of the Brazilian underground scene of the 80s, Infernal Curse relies on people like you to spread their tales of the wicked and evil across the world. Old school extreme metal to the hilt!

Neil Arnold

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