Die Kur- Era

Band - Die Kur

Album -  ERA (Formicidea)

Label - NMTCG

Die Kur is a cold-wave project from London, England. “ERA (Formicidea)” has twelve relentless tracks. When I pulled up this album, I remembered that I had a reviewed the band’s previous effort back in about February of 2011. Apparently, the disparate influences that characterized 2009’s “The Fall of the Empire” have coalesced around a much more cohesive effort this time. I had faulted the band’s previous release for, rather ambitiously, chasing too many different directions and styles simultaneously. “ERA” is a much more mature release. Die Kur trades in a brutal guitar attack and melodic, atmospheric vocals. Fans of 16 Volt or Deathline Int’l will like what is offered here.  

The album opens with an erie out-of-tuned piano melody, 360 degrees quickly breaks into buzz-saw guitar riffs that are the characteristic theme of “ERA.” This is an album of guitar heavy industrial that is unapologetic about that. “Hymeneroptra’s” sparse electronics underpin vocals that create an atmospheric cold and distant element in the music. “Attack Pheromone” drops a heavily syncopated riffs and vocals. Guitars are coupled with some erie electronics. It’s a pretty effective song. “Four Rules of Hate” is relatively forgettable, it seems too straight-forward a metal song, and somewhat out of place. “New Era” has some of the synths sitting highest in the mix as any track on the album. It’s the most similar to the band’s previous effort. The intro drops double bass on a synth-heavy riff, and develops into a catchy melodic chorus.  “(Meeting) The Gatherer” opens with what sounds like a spanish guitar or ukelele, and switches direction quickly, a guitar and drums come in, and vocals come in, recalling a earlier theme in the album.
 
Die Kur has put out an album that holds true to their ambitions, but is still much more cohesive than their previous effort. For fans of guitar-heavy industrial, and fans of cold-wave, “ERA” is hitting the right notes. Only a couple tracks on this album fall short, otherwise, this is a consistent effort from an act that seems to have found their voice.

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