Cursed Altar "The Light Shall Die"

"The Light Shall Die" is probably Cursed Altar's most angry, pissed, heavy material to date. The band seems to try something new from time to time, they took a giant leap from what we've heard on their Demo back in 2011. I'm all into favor of evolution and progression in music, as long as the band keeps putting the stake up high, delivering new and interesting music. In "The Light Shall Die"we face new aspects in sound. It's way more raw, capturing that almost "live" sound and the vocals are simply brutal, just listen to "Broken Backs and Crippled Words" for example, there's black metal of course but I also feel some doom or I dare say, some death metal vibes here. On the other hand, "Once Again I am Defeated" drinks up from the influences of punk and crusty hardcore (I'm fine with that). I really enjoyed this new turn on Cursed Altar, and my advice is for them to keep up along this path. The negative aspects on this release? The tracks are way too short. More please.

I shall die in the light

Cursed Altar "Movements of The Frozen Earth"

Now, i've talked about Cursed Altar here on Forever Cursed when the band released it's Demo back in 2011 and how I was really impressed by the quality presented back then, by delivering some great atmospheric black metal. Since that time, the band has evolved and released through their Bandcamp, a significant handful of releases, all for free. All of this is fruit of one man hard work, Joseph Oldaugh, the mind behind Cursed Altar, who takes care of all the music and artworks for its releases. Cursed Altar latest efforts (not counting with that new EP) really show that some sort of transformation happened... It became more... obscure. It features vocals, harsh, shrieking, vocals and the guitar has adopted that almost "Xasthurian" buzzing sound as heard on the opening and awesome track "The Darkest Place On Earth..." here on this compilation.

The voice really blends very well with the rest of the mix, and there's dimension on the music made here. Not some boring, poor, weak music. It really shows us a mature Cursed Altar. And i want to strongly believe that it will keep this way. It must! It may not sound trve kvlt black metal for some of you, but it's not meant to be. Cursed Altar's interpretation of black metal here is for something more tangible. Something that can create emotions in us, focused on the condition of human life and on the nature that surrounds us. It makes us travel in our mind, to the deepest of forests or to the top of the coldest mountains. 

One of the aspects on Cursed Altar's music is the fact that it has a real strong instrumental component, almost as if it's half atmospheric black metal, half atmospheric post rock. I really like the solution presented here and i wish all the best to Joseph in order for him to carry on this great music. And i suggest you too to travel to this Cursed Altar. Recommended for fans of Lantlôs, Lergrev, Nhor.

Cvrsed

Cursed Altar "Demo"

Here is a project that has it all to become the next big thing in that exclusive circle of bands that include acts like Deafheaven, Castevet, Ash Borer, etc, etc... Cursed Altar is an atmospheric Black Metal one-man-project hailing from North Carolina. With this Demo, that you can download for FREE at the artist Bandcamp, we get two beautiful tracks of the most well crafted Atmospheric Black Metal, with some Post Rock influences, it creates an atmosphere that reveals the great potential of Cursed Altar. In my modest opinion the only thing needed here is a voice, a harsh shrieking banshee voice and Boom! We have a winner. Loved this, can't wait for more to come.

listen & download