Album: Cursed Sun: ‘The Amygdala’ (5-Track EP)


If I’m not already familiar with it, I make a point of listening to as much a band’s back catalogue as possible before reviewing their latest release; it gives me more context and helps me enjoy killer tunes in a more productive fashion. From a practical standpoint, I feel like I get more of a sense of why a band is doing the things they do if I know what leads up to it. In the case of Cursed Sun, I found a lot of excellent thrash and death metal in their earlier EPs (plus one full-length; 'Premonitions'), but I feel there’s a definite growth in both creativity and cohesion as they go on. ‘The Amygdala’, released in April of this year, showcases them at full strength, offering enough complexity to compliment their raw, no-nonsense sound. Situating it in a binary I’m very fond of, this is a thoroughly ‘American’ album, but technical overthinking aside, I’ll run through it song-by song.

Cursed Sun are not fond of tense build-up; most of their releases drop the listener right into the deep end. ‘Breeding from Bleeding’ launches with screaming vocals and a slow-and-steady assault reminiscent of a metalcore breakdown. It’s got a sharper edge to it, though, particularly in the vocals. The screaming is excellent; it’s got a lot of life and variance to it, as opposed to the monotonous, rhythmic growl that sometimes seems the norm in this genre. While the track doesn’t have much diversity between verse and chorus, it remains interesting and ends on a brief but energetic solo, probably to keep the raw, repetitive nature of the main section intact. ‘Cataclysmic Decline’ opens as if it’s going to be very similar, but frequent changes in tempo complicate matters in the best sense, leading to a snarling, chanting chorus (Who survives/Only maggots) and some unexpected clean vocals in the mix. Cursed Sun are aware of the power of repetition; they are perfectly content to run the same riffs and vocal tunes over and over for a brief period, and have enough variety throughout to justify this. I quickly decided that ‘Cataclysmic Decline’ was my favourite track, juxtaposing this pounding, over-and-over style with a diverse set of sections that almost shouldn’t fit together so smoothly.

‘The Amygdala’ is a softer number, at least relatively speaking. It drops the pace to a drone backed by muted cymbals, with some surprisingly melodic sections; I felt a strong vibe of ‘Saturday Night Wrist’-era Deftones, especially in the first two minutes, although the vocals here still have much more harshness, and the instruments become more groovy/sludgy as the track goes on. It’s all effective, and has the same variety as the preceding track. ‘Primordial Chaos’ stays to the one mode a bit more; not a bad thing as its elements are all solid, with something of a death-doom vibe creeping in. There’s another nice, hammering breakdown near the end, with Andrew’s repeated cry of ‘EVISCERATE’ bearing all the malice and disgust that’s pervaded the album so far. It’s followed by an unexpected addition; an acoustic version of the title track ‘The Amygdala’. It took me by surprise the first go, but I think it’s a good idea. It gives another angle on the track, highlighting its intricacies and unveiling layers that can get lost among the heavy upheaval of the regular track. I like to see EPs as brief albums rather than merely collections of sample songs, in which case it’s good to finish a bitter, raging release with something tasteful and haunting.

Overall, my biggest criticism of ‘The Amygdala’ contains implicit praise: some of the melodies and techniques here really deserve to get songs to themselves. This explains my desire for another full-length Cursed Sun release where the impressive set of ideas on show could be better spread. But the ideas themselves are excellent in both creation and execution. As an EP, that is, a brief collection of songs to show who the band are and where they’re at, ‘The Amygdala’ definitely succeeds. Genre-wise, every track seems to combine solid death metal with other elements from a nice variety of heavy genres. Cursed Sun have made that best kind of progression over time; gaining polish and intricacy without losing the energy that they started with.

Favourite Track: Cataclysmic Decline
Polite Recommendation: Another full-scale album
For fans of: Killswitch Engage, Lamb of God, Theories Divide, zhOra, Arch Enemy

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