If This Is Hell Then I'm Lucky

Song of the Week: Cursed - Promised Land

I remember getting Cursed's final album after it came out and being completely floored. While their previous albums where, for the most part, crusty hardcore, this one was different. It still held on to it's crusty roots, but also contained near-lethal doses of sludge. One thing that was intriguing about Cursed is, that although being anti-government, they still somehow managed to get a grant from the government to record the album. Perhaps this is due to the fact that their lyrics are largely in metaphors, which might obfuscate the meaning to people who aren't paying close attention (for example "Kill the Shepard, save the sheep", and that's one of the more obvious ones.) 

 I, of course, didn't know this was different than their other albums since III: Architects of Troubled Sleep. Intrigued by their sound, I picked up their first album on vinyl when I was in Toronto, at the fantastic punk record store Hits And Misses. This album was much faster, the band had it's origins in hardcore. This track was the first one to stand out to me, it was extremely short, yet extremely powerful. Featuring some of the best songwriting the band has ever managed, this song is absolutely lethal. The lyrics are just as good as the songwriting, detailing the false hope that Hollywood provides for wannabe stars. Yes, a highly cliché subject, but Cursed provide a fresh spin on it:

you bought their lines and you staked their trail, followed their moves to the last detail.
and all that they sold you was death, on the five year plan,
and left you to rot in their promised land.
and what made you think that the life on the screen could be you?
no returns for your broken dreams when you get it home and it's not what it seems.
this is not the promised land.