Chapter II: Bloom
SHARPTONE
Ideas-driven metalcore with an attention deficit disorder
This Virginia progressive tech-metal quintet cultivate a Jekyll and Hyde-like quality with vocalists Brandon Casto and Eli Fry trading melodic lines with bowel-quaking screams. There’s an abundance of ideas here and the sheer enthusiasm with which Curses leap between stylistic shifts is impressive. The combination of aqueous guitar leads and staccato, downtuned riffs on songs such as The Door In The Wall and Amethyst evoke the early days of Thrice, particularly the much-celebrated Vheissu era. Sometimes the songs could do with a little more focus; too often their most remarkable ideas are executed and then quickly abandoned to make way for yet another generic metalcore riff. But if Curses can rein some of their ideas in and sort the wheat from the chaff, we could be looking at a very compelling band indeed.