This Gift Is a Curse – Heir (Review)

This Gift Is a Curse are a blackened hardcore/sludge band from Sweden and this is their fourth album.

I thoroughly enjoyed 2019’s A Throne of Ash, so the return of This Gift Is a Curse is a welcome one. They’ve not held back either; Heir is a 67-minute monster. Honestly, I was expecting something good from the band, but Heir is just exceptional.

This Gift Is a Curse’s style is an unholy mix of black metal, sludge, post-metal, and hardcore. Heir sees the band digging deeper into this, unearthing lost treasures as they do so, and enriching their caustic sound. The black metal has been fused with corrupted sludge, thickening its aggressive majesty with acidic venom. A brutal hardcore intensity compliments this, infusing visceral energy into the powerful cocktail. It’s absolutely lethal.

This Gift Is a Curse have ramped up both the violence and the atmosphere on Heir. Alongside this though they have also progressed their songwriting, as the songs don’t rely on these aspects alone. Both contain hooks and even catchy elements, (damn you No Sun, Nor Moon in particular for sticking in my brain like a thorn), making for music that’s forceful and moreish. Dynamic, well-structured, and with compositions that bolster and empower the aggression and mood-building, This Gift Is a Curse have returned to the fray after six years away stronger than ever.

Heir is a striking and potent record, presenting as an infectious mix of blackened violence and malevolent atmosphere. It’s black metal informed by sludge and hardcore, delivering a contemporary blackened feast of aggressive darkness and malignant atmospheric presence.

For a band with such an abrasive sound, especially one that have produced a lengthy record like Heir, it’s important to provide variety. Thankfully, This Gift Is a Curse seem aware of this. The songs flow well, and offer a range of sonic textures across the album’s running time. Different songs lean into the band’s influences in different ways, and a range of ideas spawned from nightmares arise where they’re needed. Sometimes the black metal is in ascendance, (Seers of No Light, as an example), whereas at others a post-metal sludge approach is the main mode of attack, (the punishing Void Bringer). All of the ingredients are present in most of the tracks though, no matter the ratio, all of which ensure that Heir is incredibly compelling. I even don’t mind the two-minute interlude Passing too much, (although ultimately if it was removed the album wouldn’t suffer). And then you have the songs like the terrifying grandeur of Cosmic Voice, which sounds something like Godflesh-meets-dungeon-synth-meets-the-end-of-days.

Heir is an album of ferocious apocalyptic fire. This sort of music speaks to me so strongly it hurts. Heir‘s hybrid mix of styles and focus on oppressive darkness, crushing heaviness, and blackened savagery is extremely well-judged. Heir must surely be This Gift Is a Curse at the height of their powers? Time will tell.

If you’re after an album that mixes of elements of bands such as Anaal Nathrakh, Calligram, Celeste, Cult of Luna, Hexis, only with a personality of its own, then don’t miss out on Heir.

Essential listening.