Music is, at its heart, the joy of discovery. There’s nothing quite like finding a new
sound, a new band, that instantly sparks your imagination, or leaves you
wanting to learn more.
When I was handed Coffin Curse’s debut album “Ceased to Be”, I was
intrigued. Being released on 27 January
2020 through Memento Mori,
this is classic, old-school death metal, with gut-punch riffery and haunting,
reverb-soaked solos.
This was a discovery. I had to learn more.
Information about the band itself, however, was
quite difficult to find. So, I went
ahead and sent them a message through the aether of the internet, and was
pleasantly surprised to find them more than happy to interact with this
enamoured fan
Sludgelord) Hello
there, please introduce yourselves
Hi Chris, first of all we want to thank you for
your support and dissemination for this rotten death metal crusade. The band is
called Coffin Curse,
formed by Carlos Fuentes and Max Neira, in the over-polluted city of Santiago,
the capital city of Chile, a country located in the far south of this planet.
Sludgelord) How
long has Coffin Curse been a band, and were you in any bands before this one?
Coffin Curse was formed in 2012, primarily as an alternate
project. Our main band until that moment was Inanna, a death metal horde that has
remained uninterrupted since 2000. Between the two of us, we have participated
in various metal outfits like Trimegisto, Death Smell, Perpetuum, Sol Sistere
and others that this alcoholic memory does not allow me to remember now.
Sludgelord) What
is the metal scene like in Chile?
If we put everything together as one scene, we can
say that it has been very strong since 1983 approximately. The number of bands
is almost overwhelming, and we could name a hundred excellent projects for more
than 30 years of history. In each town starting at the north end to the bitter
cold of the Magallanes region, it is full of hate and crap that is synthesized
as metal music. Nowadays, is like A set of micro-scenes in a bag, nobody cares
much about music at a national level, if not at a level at which each zone
supports its own bands or friends, which it’s OK, I think. New generations have
appeared and the bands multiply. In our particular case, we’re getting old and
we are not very interested about social life and shit besides METAL.
Sludgelord) Do
you have any tour dates lined up?
Nothing apart from a visit planned for February 22
in the city of Santa Bárbara
located in the south of the country.
Sludgelord) Where
would you like to tour?
Leaving aside our own country, we would be
interested to know Perú, parts of Europe and the US. We hope that with the
release of our first full-length a good & nasty tour can be realized,
wherever.
I am very grateful to both Carlos Fuentes and Max
Neira for taking the time and effort to respond to my questions, it’s very much
appreciated.
So, the Chilean two-piece have created this album
with intent to destroy speakers worldwide.
And they should succeed: what they lack in band members, they more than
make up for in musical texture.
Seriously, just two guys made this?? The riffs are rampant, the
vocals are so guttural they could shred steel, and the drumming is the
relentless pounding that quickens the heartbeat in excitement.
Eight songs, two maniacs, no regrets. My personal pick of the bunch is “Deep in
Streams of Purifying Dirt”, which starts with this doomy, tolling intro,
which then rips into this hacking, mauling terror, full of time changes and
vicious vocals. Imagine if “South
of Heaven” era Slayer got into a bar fight with Necrophagist, and you
may get the idea.
Coffin Curse’s “Ceased to Be” is a statement of intent. It’s a joy to listen to, and shows that
Chilean death metal is definitely a worthwhile scene to experience. It’s a hard-hitting debut release: put this
on, crank it up, and feel the touch of death upon you.
