Wodensthrone - Curse (2012)

Yet another release I couldn't wait to get my grubby paws on, just about as anxiously I was awaiting Lunar Aurora's Hoagascht and Proclamation's Nether Tombs of Abaddon, and so far neither have disappointed me.

The only problem is, I have only listened to it twice over, therefor the basis of my opinion isn't standing on a sturdy floor so to speak. The vocalist from the debut album Loss is no more, he departed Wodensthrone sometime in 2011. Which to me, is a sad loss. (fuck I'm clever) So now, vocal duties are shared amongst the rest of the band. Sounds a little sketchy, right? I'm left feeling indifferent, in many ways it works, but at times I feel it hamstrings the cold nature of the atmosphere.

From what I have gathered I have noticed this; A beefier sound, thick and well developed riffs, galloping drums that are more prominent and less tinny in sound (not always a good thing), it's more refined and developed, as it should be for a band releasing an album three years later, but I feel some of that frigid and raw atmosphere has been sacrificed. Let's go with the pretentious idiom that, it sounds less organic.

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A fellow and loyal SHOM reader who bears the moniker 'The Swedish Metalhead 'once said in the comments section for Wodensthrone's Loss: "I'm probably gonna save this for a few months, and in the darkness of December, I'll listen to this deep in the night."
I don't know why, but the words resonated with me a bit, probably because I too shared the sentiment that the album is much more of a full experience in the cold, dark, depressing days of winter. Curse hauls ass, but so far doesn't bask in the cold raw natural atmospheric squalor that its predecessor did.


Curse is still very good, I know you probably left those last few paragraphs with no real enthusiasm to download it, but those words came from very high expectations. Who knows, maybe after a few more spins I will dig it even more than I did with Loss.

Grab if you like: Winterfylleth, Nàttsòl, Dragobrath

curse