FATAL CURSE - Breaking The Trance

Release date April 19/19 (Shadow Kingdom)

Traditional heavy metal newcomers Fatal Curse prove aggression in modern metal doesn’t have to mean drop-tuning or growling vocals. Sometimes all you need is a furious guitar riff, or the seemingly nine-thousand guitarist Dave Gruver carves out on their debut album, Breaking the Trance.

The first two songs set a tone for a solid New Wave of British Heavy Metal album with maybe a few notables quirks. One of the most noticeable being the guitar solos. Gruver seems to float over the track rather than rip through it like you would expect in this style. It’s unique and gives the group an identity. Song three ‘Gang Life’, however, turns the album (and your eyebrows, I’m willing to bet) way up and gets you ready for the jerky riff attack of the latter half of the album. This is where the group really shines, breakneck riff turns that will leave a smile on your face and your neck confused. There is no better example of this than, ‘Chains of Eternity.’ Every riff in this one could support a whole song but Dave Gruver just burns through a treasure trove of them in a three minutes blitzkrieg.

The sound of this album is raw, unrefined, and unforgiving and by the end your face will be sufficiently melted and your neck stiff from trying to keep up with the rampant riff changes. In some weird ways it reminds me of Coroner a little… they sound like the child of Coroner and Diamond Head, and it fuckin’ rules.

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