In mid-January we brought you the premiere of a video for “Tower of Silence”, one of the tracks on The 13th Sign, which is the debut album by Cleveland’s Curse of Denial. Now we bring you another video for another powerful track from the record — “Pawns in Chess“.
The 13th Sign was released on February 3 by Redefining Darkness Records, and the video for “Pawns in Chess” is a reminder of what a viscerally powerful album it is. And like the video for “Tower of Silence”, this new one is a fitting visual match for the music — which pulls no punches.
If this happens to be your introduction to Curse of Denial, it’s worth telling you that the members of the band have deep roots in the underground, even though the band itself is a new one. The line-up includes former members of Descend (whose own roots go back to the ’90s) as well as vocalist Rob Molzan (also a member of From the Depths) whose tenure with Decrepit goes back to that same decade.
The 13th Sign also includes guest vocal appearances by these men on “Night Terrors” — as well as a guest lead guitar performance by Matt Sorg of Ringworm, Shed the Skin, and From the Depths:
Don of the Dead (Nunslaughter)
Duane Morris (Decrepit, From the Depths)
Paul Gorefiend (Embalmer, Kurnugia)
Ben Ihde (Punching Moses)
Aaron Dallison (Keelhaul, Brain Tentacles)
Like the album as a whole, “Pawns In Chess” isn’t easily pigeonholed in genre terms. With Molzan growling and roaring like some giant beast, the song hits with bludgeoning force, propelled by a rhythm section that’s absolutely bone-splintering. It thunders, rampages, and smashes with the weight of sledgehammers. It’s a grim, ferocious assault on the senses with frequent tempo changes and riffs that move from seething and slashing to dirge-like and dismal, and arpeggios that seem to chime like bells. The changing textures of the song are further augmented by incendiary guitar solos and by currents of dark melody that get stuck in the head.
As for the video, it’s all real, and the excerpts have been chosen in a way that causes it to hit the emotions as hard as the music. There is a clear message in the video, as well as in the lyrics. We asked vocalist Rob Molzan for a comment on it, and he responded as follows:
“This video is intended to open eyes and open minds. Here in the USA people are more divided than I have seen in my life. People are mad at their fellow citizens over who they voted for rather then the very establishment that lies to us daily, be it political, religious or the media. Our media has done away news reporting and is now in the business of opinion making. Entertainment has turned into product placement. We have now been baptized in distractions. Social media, celebrity opinions, and various other outlets to keep the masses entertained.
“However, the USA is more awake than ever. Even with all of these distractions, people are informing themselves and beginning to see through the veil that has been in place to keep us blind. The true leaders of the free world are not necessarily elected officials. This video is just a piece in a puzzle of Americans waking up. Forming our own opinions. Recognizing who truly runs our country and what happens in other countries when the people have had enough.
“We do not condone rioting or violence, but we do encourage education and freedom from any and all oppression. We live in a beautiful country and part of that beauty is having the choice to free our minds, if we let ourselves.”
The eye-catching cover art for the album was created by Remy from Headsplit Design. You can order it in a variety of formats here:
https://redefiningdarknessrecords.bandcamp.com/album/the-13th-sign
And below you’ll find not only the new video but also that video for “Tower of Silence” and a full stream of the whole album.
Curse of Denial on Facebook:
http://www.facebook.com/curseofdenial/