| CD REVIEW This Gift Is A Curse |
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Band : This Gift Is A Curse This now Stockholm based Swedish Hardcore/ Sludge band came together purely by chance, as all members originate from different cities. And it's an accidental meeting of Jonas A Holmberg (vocals & microkorg) and Johan Nordlund (drums) in the Summer of 2008 which led to the formation of This Gift Is A Curse. Having both just moved to Stockholm, the two got talking, and in doing so found out they shared the same ideas about music making. They soon found themselves recruiting Lars Gunnarsson (bass) and Patrik Andersson (guitar, vocals), because they seemed to think along common musical pathways. As the guys got to know each other better, they found the circle was complete, and soon enough found themselves recording 5 songs to demo in their rehearsal room. Since then however, the guys have grown even more towards each other, and as they grew more confident in their common musical goals...they felt the initial demo recordings became outdated and obsolete, so the band decided to build up the funds to go into a more professional studio to record something more representative of their output. This event took place in March of 2010 when they entered the infamous Sunlight Studios (known from having housed the likes of Entombed, Katatonia, Tiamat, Dismember, Disfear, Centinex, Refused, and many more in the past) for a one-week recording session with Tomas Skogsberg. Somehow the music recorded there was heard by people in the music business...maybe the band sent out demos of the recordings, maybe things happened differently, I dunno...but the end result is we can now listen to the 4 songs recorded during that session! Time to hark back to the band members' origins in order to try and explain what they're on about these days!You see, one the one side there was Grizzly Twister from Gävle (who had a release through Midmarch Records, a label influential in getting out and establishing the now classical Gävle sound through early releases from Meleeh, Children Of Fall, Gadget, Serene, In Ruins Of, and more), and on the other side there's Seven Nautical Miles from Piteä (release out on Sound Desvastation Records)...two somewhat different bands stylistically, but somehow it felt comfortable, almost a natural step for both protagonists of the band to return to the world of Hardcore/ heavy music. The current sound of TGIAC is best described as a Hardcore Sludge with great variety in pace and energy (sometimes the music is slow and threatening, then it's faster and more energetic, but still with a darkness underneath), and with additional influences from the occult Black Metal scene in both the lyrics and vocal stylings (heh...hence the “darkness underneath”, you know!). Somehow however, I have a feeling that there's more installed for this band! Don't get me wrong: this is a darn good (réal góód) debut EP, and one which I'm immediately cataloging among the stuff to listen to again at a later date, but I have a feeling that the guys perhaps didn't feel quite at home in the studio yet! And thàt feeling has me looking out with some anticipation for the band's full-length debut! Oh, if Progressive Hardcore and or Sludge are your thing, dó check out the band's music at myspace.com/thisgiftisacurse! You'll not be sorry...in fact, I can almost guarantee you you'll be hunting for the EP (real nice artwork too) at your local record store! For now, let's add this to our “Best Debuts of 2010” lists! 98/100 Tony. |