Rotten Sound

Cursed (Relapse)

Finnish grind quartet swarms brutalizing, metallic hardcore (black metalcore?) on its sixth LP and first for Philly metal foundry Relapse Records. Dispensing 16 acid baths in 28 minutes, Cursed groups into six handy categories – Egotism, Vanity, Coercion, Vengeance, Exploitation, and Fear. Vanity’s unforgiving, Coercion’s sick (“Machinery”), Vengeance ends in an unexpected dirge (“Declare”), and Fear froths (“Terrified”). The end: “Scared” (“to death”) and “Doomed.”

***.5

This article appears in August 26 • 2011.

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San Francisco native Raoul Hernandez crossed the border into Texas on July 2, 1992, and began writing about music for the Chronicle that fall, debuting with an album review of Keith Richards’ Main Offender. By virtue of local show previews – first “Recommendeds,” now calendar picks – his writing’s appeared in almost every issue since 1993.