Some bands just don't make it easy for us reviewers to enlighten folks in two or three paragraphs on the ins and outs of their work. Swedish hardcore act ACURSED, on the other hand, makes it damn near impossible. This album is hard enough to decipher with its minimalist black and white digipak packaging and bilingual (and unprinted) lyrics alone, but this one is a first: There are no fucking song titles anywhere! Most likely, these guys want this album to be perceived as a whole and not the actual tracks individually. Unfortunately, it is divided into tracks, and some sort of reference point would really help in the process of fully appreciating the album.

Here's what we can tell you. These unnamed songs are simple and short, but they owe quite a bit to the melodic death metal of their home country. The unexpected array of groove and melody, along with the scratchy C tuning, help answer the question "What would it sound like if IN FLAMES did hardcore punk?" As just about every metalhead can attest, though, that sort of stuff is always best in bite-sized pieces. Sadly, an album that doesn't recognize individual songs and with no sort of break apart from a few spoken word interludes (also presumably in Swedish), this is not an option. This ultimately makes an otherwise stand-out album quite boring.

Amusingly enough, the Prank Records blog has an entry where they're trying to decipher some of the lyrics to at least kind of give each track a sense of identity. In the end, though, the message the band should take away from this experience is two-fold. First, kudos for having some audacity. And second, don't do it again.

- Cardona

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