The Imperialist Consumer
Omaha-bred indie group Cursive has been cemented as a key figure of the late ’90s and early 2000s rock and post-hardcore scene. Since their first emergence in 1995, sweeping the scene with award-winning albums like Domestica (2000) and The Ugly Organ (2003), they have managed to continuously stay relevant and produce sonically driven and diverse sounds, forever molding the indie landscape and continuously crushing any moment of stagnation or comfort. Tim Kasher, frontman of Cursive, has his artistic relentless steering into the overconsumption and mayhem of today, describing himself as “the Devourer” before molding his most experimental sound yet. Alongside Matt Maginn and Ted Stevens, Cursive pushes their well-known rock and indie-landscape sound into a deep dive into the sinister world of the modern day: highjacking their pensive lyrics over a heavy industrial rock and indie mode, reflecting in melancholy atmospheres of failure and regret, perching their high-pace anxiety over electronic sounds, and finally describing how consumption has led them to be complete and through imperialists of everything around them. Devourer, a diverse sound from post-hardcore to indie melodies, structures demise over pop tunes and whole rock to bring forth Cursive’s most exciting and artistically driven vision yet.
The album begins with “Botch Job,” a fiery exposition with heavy industrial guitars and basses smashing down over the first lyrics screaming: “This is the end of your life / It’s shocking how long you fought to survive.” “Botch Job” itself, a clash of that post-hardcore band sound, relying heavily on the downstrokes and awesome guitar riffs to sparse out the minor tones of electric modes and silence, highlights more of the infamous rock-indie sound Cursive is known to offer. The screams of lead singer Kasher follow the straightforward, coarse, but also metaphorical phrases, from “Your gut’s an old garbage can/ Liver’s a purple bruised punching bag” to “Botch Job, you fumbled the ball/ Never quite got self-actualized.” Within this excellent melody is everything the band’s artistic vision promised, a devouring of life with an ambience of screams and thrashing guitar with the heavy bass following, ramming through with the profound morbid reflection of dreams and plans versus reality wailing after every beat.
The following songs featured on the track, “Up and Away,” as well as “Imposturing,” continue the heavy and emotional journey introduced with “Botch Job,” diving down on how time passes and self-reflecting and self-interrogating. However, each song, in turn, reflects these ideas in diverse methods and sounds, showcasing the excellent boundary-pushing Cursive is known for. “Up and Away” double downs on its indie roots with a heavy screech of guitar and bass moments; however, it takes the time to showcase the electronic ambiance, small, high-pitched piano riffs, and strings that draw out most of the song’s bridge. Furthermore, the chorus of “Up and Away” carries a more pop mode, relying on layering of higher pitched octaves with a repetitive chorus, “Up,up,up,up,up,up, and away.” Its implementation of further ideas and sonic expansion relays into one of the following tracks, “Imposturing,” a purely high-pitched indie and brighter sound track.
With the high-pitched electronic guitar riffing in the complete introduction, alongside the brighter tone of a happier guitar riff. The lack of screeches previously found in Devourer, as well as more electronic sounds and a brighter atmosphere, further delves into the irony of change of sound with the references to Kasher’s own past work, even in some ways mocking himself with lyrics like “No one wants to listen to sins regurgitated on colored wax again / You played your best cards when you were young and insolent,” a reference to previous hits off Cursive’s The Ugly Organ.
What’s also important to highlight is the diversity the album Devourer touches upon. “The Avalanche of our Demise” postulates in dark humor what natural disaster will happen next, pushing between a great guitar and bass riff—begging its punk and hardcore tone— to the pensive but sarcastic lyrics of virus, avalanches, viruses, and floods being met with “Besides your swamped today / the Apocalypse has to wait.” Furthermore, songs like “Dead End Days,” where topics of debt and inequality and dismal future generations rise heavily over the catchiest of riffs and melodies the album offers. This, of course, cannot be mentioned without songs like “What Do We Do Now?” where imagery and visual storytelling carries through the scenery of dilapidated and empty skyscrapers. At the same time, developers keep building more and more as consumers follow in their footsteps.
With each important discussion and piece about modern day—ranging from anxiety to pure dismal truth— always lies within Devourer an equal counterpart of musical experimentation and playing with sound. “Dark Star” explores spirituality and humanity with an ambient background, while pushing a more electronic-based sound and spacey background of strings flushing in and out of crescendos and more. “Rookie” has an explosion of fireworks of a full band orchestra, having in moments full ecstasy of sound as strings, drones, and more blast in, fade out, with contemplative plays of layering and genius production design. In response to these intricate designs and interpretations are songs like “What the Fuck,” a pure thrash of electronic rhythm and screams of madness with its main line: “What the Fuck!” With all the pure diversity and sound ever to need in one album, it’s important to note the final score, “The Loss,” a grand ecstasy of end with horns, trumpets, and other orchestral parts blaring through with a lack of reassurance of our future, but a grand closure to the sonic masterpiece of the album.
Devourer highlights the most ambitious and personal project yet of Cursive, pushing forward in truth the unwavering passion and authenticity this group has acquired over 30 years of music-making. From the masterful production, design, sparking moments of diverse sound to the overall melancholy and reflective lyrics, Devourer consumes all in its path to reflect the ever-growing hole we have fallen into and the world has eaten us alive with. With whatever sound we hope to hear from Cursive next, it’s important to realize the awesome and epic proportion which Cursive and its devouring beast has just wailed into mainstream.
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