(Andy Synn goes from a long-term favourite to a brand new one from German Metalcore marauders Inherit the Curse)
If there’s one thing we try to avoid doing here at NCS, it’s repeat ourselves.
So since yesterday was all about a legendary, long-running band and what could possibly be their final album, today I’m going to shift my focus to a much, much younger band who just put out their first full-length release.
Sun rise, sun set.
With a sound that favours raw energy and raging aggression over pristine, polished perfection, belligerent Bremen-based bruisers Inherit the Curse offer up an abrasive amalgam of crusty (Death) Metal and blackened (Hard)core – oh, if only we had a term for that – on All We Are Is Dust which should instantly appeal to fans of the likes of Ancst, Nails, and early Heaven Shall Burn.
Ok, maybe instantly was pushing it… as the lazily-titled “Intro” (seriously folks, do better!) has to set the scene first… but once the album kicks into gear with the face-melting fury and bite-the-kerb blastbeats of the teeth-shattering, sub-two-minute title-track it basically never lets up (the occasional punky bass-break or fleeting passage of poignant introspection aside) right until the final, fading notes of the Darkest Hour-ish “Ruins”.
That’s not to say that the band’s all-out (and, in songs like “Betrayal” and “Black Mist of Extinction”, All Out War-esque) assault on the senses is totally without nuance – moments like the moody melodic undercurrent of “Swarm” and the unexpected (and unexpectedly effective) dash of sombre clean-singing in “Ruins” are a testament to that – but these relatively minimalist touches of moderation and restraint are overwhelmingly outweighed by the sheer punishing intensity of the rest of the record.
And whether that’s in the form of the blasting, charnel-house churn of “Salt the Wound” (whose crushing climax would give even the most brutal bands from the Deathcore scene cause for concern) or the weaponised blastbeats and militarised breakdowns of “Collapse” (and if breakdowns are your thing, the absolutely colossal conclusion of “Earth to Waste” is almost worth the price of admission on its own) one thing is for certain… you’re not likely to hear many more albums, let alone many more debut albums, that go as hard as this one in 2026.