"Heartificial" is an extremely brief two-song "teaser" EP from Syracuse, NY's Casting Curses (released by Tuned to You Records) that flies by in a mere five minutes. Expect that contemporary hardcore type of sound that blends moderate heaviness and yelled vocals with some melodic bits. Everything tends to fall in the midpaced range with these two tracks, and the approach feels neither overly aggressive nor blatantly melodic, with a little bit of experimentation with light effects and dissonance that doesn't take things too far. It sort of comes across as a slower take on a sound comparable to bands like Defeater, Verse, Modern Life is War... that kind of stuff. It's not entirely in that vein per se, but to my ears a lot of this type of hardcore kind of blends together. I guess in some respects Casting Curses feels like they're pushing for the more artistic vibe of the aforementioned bands, but without losing a certain sense of simplicity, and I can definitely appreciate that element of their delivery.
Casting Curses "Change the Lights" (excerpt)
The disc is limited to just 100 copies and is available from the band for only $4. Be sure to check out the rest of their webstore as well, though, 'cause all of the prices are very solid, and you can even get this CD with a shirt for less than $10!? That's a great deal...
