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Well, when a bio tells you the band leader killed himself before the release of the album, you at least pay attention. Infernum are from Poland, that happy land of sunshine, elves, and laughter, and this is their debut, and maybe only album. This is, by the way, NOT the Infernum with Rob Darken in it, that's a different band. Guitarist/Vocalist Anextiomarus apparently did himself in before the deal was made to release this through Sound Riot. If it was just to gain attention, I guess it worked.

I wish I could say this was awesome, since a guy frigging died for it, but sadly Infernum are merely good. This is raw, midpaced Black Metal with that unmistakable eastern European vibe – vaguely in the school of Nokturnal Mortum, with a lot of Darkthrone and early Emperor influence. The 'Intro' and 'Outro' tracks are boring as fuck, but the meat of the album (5 longish tracks) is good, if not genre-defining. I wish I could say more good things about it, but The Curse is just not very original, nor is it good enough to rise above its influences. This is enjoyable, but that's about as far as it goes.