Curse The Son – Delirium
Curse The Son is a stoner/ doom rock band from Hamden, Connecticut. The current lineup consists of Ron Vanacore on vocals and guitars, Dan Weeden on bass, and Logan Vanacore on drums. The band formed in 2007 and have just released their fifth full length album entitled Delirium, on Ripple Music. The record came out on September 6rh, 2024. The band’s other albums include 2011’s Klonopain, 2013’s Psycache, 2016’s Isolator, and 2020’s Excruciation. They also released an EP back in 2009 called Globus Hystericus.
Curse The Son has a classic doom sound that is in the vein of the mighty Black Sabbath, old Pentagram, and Witchfinder General. In fact, the third track on Delirium is an excellent cover song of the Witchfinder General classic called “R.I.P.” The album opens up with “The Suffering Is Ours” which is a master class in riff centric doom rock. The song starts with a slow and heavy guitar riff and kicks in from there. Ron Vanacore’s vocals have an Ozzy-esc sound to them and the music is a heavy tuned down assault of stoner rock. The song has a cool bass break bridge part at around the 3:40 mark and picks up the tempo until it comes to a finish. “Deliberate Cruelty (The Extermination Song)” is a slab of riff dense chugging with a catchy chorus. At one point, the song warps with panned out left and right phasing into some nice accents with isolated vocal parts. It’s a trippy and psychedelic experience for a few seconds and I thought my headphones were crapping out for a moment. It’s a really good song throughout with the heavy rhythms and Vanacore’s excellent vocals. “Riff Forest” is a dirging menace of sludgy doom. The track is an instrumental and has a devastating Sabbath sound instilled within. The fifth song, “In Dismal Space” is a great tune! Haunting and heavy riffs that features some rumbling bass underneath the vocals on the verses. Curse The Son has their sound formulated and dialed in on this recording. They play some unrelenting Sabbath worship music with menacing conviction. Ron Vanacore’s voice is perfect for these riffs and the band are not locked into the slow as molasses sound as some doom metal bands exist. They incorporate fluidity and dynamics on these songs as well.
“Brain Paint” acts as an interlude with a funky bass line with spacy and psychedelic guitars and sounds. It’s also an instrumental and sets up nicely to the title track, “Delirium”. Dan Weeden’s busy bass playing continues on this song as it fills in the dead space from the riff ring outs from Vanacore’s guitar chords. Another great execution of songwriting and keeping the music interesting and not run of the mill doom. “May Cause Drowsiness” is another interlude of such and acts as an introduction to the last track. It only lasts less than a minute and has more bass dominant groove with some phasing guitars. It’s a great lead in intro to the final cut, “Liste Of The Dead.” The song starts with bass and drums and then kicks into a nice slow and heavy groove. Another plus to the Curse The Son sound is the rock solid drumming of Logan Vanacore. He plays devastating and simple beats mostly but throws in some cool drum fills on this track. “Liste Of The Dead” plays out the doom on this track and transitions from one brutal rhythm to the next. Just after the three minute mark, the song shifts into a crawling guitar driven colossal that delves into a bass break and a fade out riff with vocals in play.
Overall, Delirium is an excellent album that really shows the maturity of the band. It plays well on their strengths and keeps the songs concise and interesting. After being a band for nearly seventeen years, Curse The Son knows exactly what they want to play and how to actually execute it.
https://cursetheson.bandcamp.com
