Cursed Two (2005) Goodfellow

Chris Collohan's past bands include Left For Dead, Ruination, and the Swarm (AKA Knee Deep In The Dead), and his newest band Cursed definitely has the most evil and powerful sound of them all. The first CD, One, was a brutal onslaught, like being hit in the head with a fucking sledge hammer. With such brutal speedfests such as "Polygraph" and "Pariah," and the epic and flawless song "Opposable Thumbs." Now they have released what could very well be one of the best hardcore albums of the decade.

Musically, the band tends to sound like an extremely sped up His Hero Is Gone/Tragedy, or a slightly slower and much more talented version of the Havoc Records band Destroy. Thrashy, crusty, and definitely powerful, this band sounds like pure rage and agression.

Lyrically, Collohan is pure genius, the lyrics tend to be brutal and violent, but the violent imagery is used to describe social/political problems, such as these lyrics to the song "The Void:" "And when he dies alone with nothing in hand, burned out shell of a working man, when he dies alone with empty hands...". Or these lyrics to the song that was also released on seven inch vinyl, "Hell Comes Home:" "Welcome home in a bodybag from the front lines of defeat, discharged to a normal life in a room that's two feet wide and six feet deep."

Standout tracks are "Fatalist," "The Void," "Head Of The Baptist," "Hell Comes Home," and Model Home Invasion," which is a slow and ballady sort of song. My one gripe was that it seems that my CD had all of the tracks moved up by one, with the intro track being the 11th one, but the quality of the songs more than makes up for this technical gaffe. II should definitely be on everyone's top releases of 2005 list.

(BizzleBrizzle)