Cursed Altar is back, this time with a tiny 2-song EP called The Darkest Place On Earth Is The Mind Of Man. I'm starting to like these really long album titles.
Since there are only two songs on here, I'll explain the songs in-depth. The beginning of the first song has a more traditional black metal structure. The opening riffs, to me, are what Xasthur would sound like if he had much higher production values and put a bit more melody into his formula. Not only that, but the extremely cloudy and tortured rasps remind me of Xasthur as well. However, whereas the guy behind Xasthur is an unlikeable misanthropic asshole, the guys behind Cursed Altar are some pretty chill dudes. But I digress.
At around the 1:36 mark, the guitars play these drawn-out, high-pitched, melodic chords that sort of remind me of some of the stuff I've heard on Panopticon's Social Disservices album. Overall, the music has a much more depressive feel when compared to their last release. At a little before the halfway point, they ditch the distortion and play much calmer clean guitars just before the distortion comes back and brings forth a darker atmosphere.
The last song is an entirely ambient piece. As I listened to these dark, ghostly sounds, I agree with their declaration that the darkest place on earth is the mind of man. All of the most despicable ideas, all of the most heinous atrocities, all were borne in the mind of man. All the terrifying creatures found in nature are downright pitiful when compared to the unspeakable horrors that can be conjured in the mind of man.
Cursed Altar is not afraid to experiment, unlike most other black metal bands. They have created a much darker, more depressing piece this time around, and they pulled it off spectacularly. Go download this album from their official Bandcamp page.
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