Curimus
Under My Skin
6.8
It was by picking up this demo that I expected to ruin for myself the lofty reputation of Finland’s uncanny ability to put out quality metal. Surely a tattoo-in-progress being the entire content of the cover of Finnish band Curimus’s Under My Skin is a solid bet for mediocre metalcore, right? Wait, is there even Finnish metalcore? …Finncore? If not, I lay claim to all future royalties, whenever that fad gets around to reaching them. Whenever that dark, depressing day comes. Whenever carbon-copied macho-posturing finally reaches the proverbial shores of Finland’s metal scene, laying waste to -
Oh, right, Curimus. As it turns out, they’re not really metalcore. The beginning of “Under My Skin” and the vocalist’s yells, as well as the production, may initially deceive one to receive it as such, but they’re actually a lighter take on old school death metal, with odd bits and pieces of other styles thrown in, such as the opening riff of “Something You Cannot Be”, which sounds as if it were lifted from a Rammstein song. And, as it turns out, Curimus has some chops. Mediocrity is looking through their windows, threatening to try the doors, but they play just well enough to keep Enjoyablitity around as a bouncer. Four songs and fifteen minutes (excluding three minutes of silence and a drum solo) of what essentially boils down to a less heavy, and less interesting, Grave found me bobbing my head throughout. It’s generic to a fault, the drums sound rather annoying, and the guitars could use a heftier tone, but, otherwise, Under My Skin is a solid demo.
