April 2, 2025| Harry Shiels | RELEASE REVIEW
This Gift Is A Curse – Heir | Album Review
Swedish extreme metal five piece This Gift Is A Curse push themselves beyond their limits into the throes of apocalyptic suffering with their fourth full length, Heir.
Having formed in Stockholm back in 2008, This Gift Is A Curse are long-established in the underground European scene for their punishing amalgamation of black metal, sludge and hardcore. Slowly coming together over the course of the past six years, the newest effort Heir has the band laser focussed into coalescing the essence of their previous works into a streamlined form. Despite being known for their scorching and bleak musical output, Heir pushes the band deeper into punishing territory than ever before.
The band waste little time, opening track ‘Kingdom’ introduces the caustic, apocalyptic atonal black metal fury. It sounds like the end of the world, and it’s intoxicating. It’s the perfect sample plate of what the band have to offer. Following the opener, ‘No Sun, Nor Moon’ is an early standout, the maelstrom of oppressive black metal fury breaks for a punchy chorus. The almost obsessive gang vocal roars of the track title border on insanity as the track sinks its hooks in deep, willing you to move further into the depths of Heir.
“...the vast majority of the tracks can stand on their own two feet, the lengthy compositions having enough substance to themselves to not require sitting in the album.”
This is a well-thought-out album with how seamless the experience and the transitions between tracks are. For example, the trifecta of ‘Void Bringer’, ‘Death Maker’ and ‘Passing’ feels like one extended track. ‘Void Bringer’ has a break in the relentless onslaught, introducing spacey ambience and taking turns you might not expect, only for the flow into ‘Death Maker’ to deliver on the black metal bludgeoning. ‘Passing’ then feels like breaking through to the other side of suffering through the bowels of Hell, an instrumental track filled with unnerving samples and atmospherics.
However, the vast majority of the tracks can stand on their own two feet, the lengthy compositions having enough substance to themselves to not require sitting in the album. The likes of ‘Seers of No Light’ with its grandiose post-metal intro lighting a spark before stoking the flames engulf the listener in a multitude of creative flourishes within the abrasive black metal core. ‘Vow Sayer’ has similar stand out power, a swift percussive click click boom erupting into a discordant and otherworldly beatdown.
Photo Credit: Kristofer Karlberg
On previous releases, the band took inspiration from the blackened crusty nihilism of Trap Them or All Pigs Must Die and the more atmospheric post-hardcore/post-black metal vibes of Oathbreaker. However, with Heir, they’ve progressed further, blending these aspects deeper into a core of caustic modern black metal. The band have clearly honed in on this excellent approach to dynamics and textures. It is not just slab after slab of punishing black metal, there are peaks and valleys in the songwriting, stops and starts. Tempo and rhythmic shifts. The album doesn’t stray into the points of emotional frailty of Oathbreaker, but still takes notes on their approach to structure and dynamics. Balancing the undiluted ferocity with passages of quiet unease and high-strung tension; it’s aggressive misery, bleaker than bleak.
As Heir starts to reach its final leg, ‘Old Space’ in a way is like clawing through bedrock with the album’s penultimate track. It skirts the edge of making Heir feel just a touch too long in the tooth, not enough to overstay it’s welcome, but it teeters on the precipice of being a fatiguing task in an almost masochistic way to listen to the album in one sitting. It mostly runs smooth, but towards the tail end you start to question how long you’ve been locked in its iron grip of adrenaline soaked apocalyptic bleak metal. That’s not to detract from the album’s quality, This Gift Is A Curse sound just as ferocious as they ever have, swinging over a vast chasm of despair and total annihilation in sonic form. Closer, ‘Ascension’ is well worth the wait, embracing further depths of frenetic black metal; pushing your face into the ground until you can feel your skull starting to crack under the pressure. It is relentless. If you can stomach over an hour of unyielding suffering, then you’ll be greatly rewarded with what is sure to be a stand-out black metal album of the year.
