ERRA – CURE
Release Date: 5th April 2024
Label: UNFD
Bandcamp
Genre: Progressive Metalcore, Metalcore.
FFO: Invent Animate, Spiritbox, NOVELISTS, Northlane.
Review By: Trina Julian Edwards
Past masters of progressive metalcore, ERRA, have returned with their sixth full-length album, Cure, releasing on April 05 via UNFD. Cure features guitarist/vocalist Jesse Cash, vocalist J.T. Cavey, drummer Alex Ballew, bassist Conor Hesse, and the band’s new guitarist, Clint Tustin.
Their 2021 self-titled release is arguably their best work to date and one of the best releases in the progressive metalcore sub-genre period. With tracks like Snowblood, Gungrave, and Divisionary, ERRA pushed past their previously established boundaries and won legions of new fans in the process. So how does Cure fit into the band’s evolutionary process? Let’s find out.
The title track, Cure, is one of my favorites on the album. It’s giving some Audioslave vibes in those riffs and hints of late 2000s Protest the Hero in that left hand. The riffs are also very bendy, with plenty of bounce and some clever offbeat shenanigans that keep the groove from becoming repetitive. Although surely everyone knows by now I’m not a big fan of cleans in my metal, Jesse Cash is the exception. I’d listen to this man sing an algebra textbook. His smooth, melismatic slides up and down the scale contrast beautifully with both the chugging riffs and J.T.’s intelligible, but still ferocious, screams. J.T. also shows off his cleans here, particularly noticeable in the pre-chorus, adding another flavor to the typical metalcore recipe. The harmonics in the breakdown hit just right, and the chugs give it some extra oomph. I’ve been listening to this song for a month, and I’m still not tired of it.
Rumor of Light has an ambient, spacey-sounding intro, but this thing thumps. It’s on the slower end of the spectrum, similar to tracks like Shadow Autonomous, but it’s no less weighty for all that. The rhythm of J.T.’s screams consistently complements the changing dynamics, and I love the juxtaposition of the low, dirty riffs and Jesse’s gorgeous melodies lightly floating over the top. He’s at the higher end of his range here, and something about his inflections reminds me of Stephen Christian during Cities-era Anberlin. A bit emo, maybe, but I’m all for it, and Jesse harmonizing with himself is always brilliant. Don’t miss that solo, either. This track has so many textures that I keep hearing something new each time I listen to it.
Idle Wild has a cool, synthy opening going into J.T.’s screamed verses. The riffs and the punchy rhythm dominate, but the harmonics punctuating measures of the verses are a really nice way to lighten things up. There are some intriguing leaping intervals and some exciting moving leads driving the dynamics that will sound familiar to fans of Neon and Drift. It has quite a bit of groove to it as well. Jesse’s voice in the chorus has a little more fry on it, think Gungrave, and it works perfectly with J.T. screaming along in the background. J.T.’s cleans are also strategically placed to bounce off his harsh vocals, and I love that they’re continuing to utilize another of their resources in J.T.’s cleans. Having two clean vocalists to lean on adds a unique layer to the clean/scream dichotomy in current metalcore that Cash and Cavey have always done so well.
When I first heard Blue Reverie, I wasn’t sure how I felt about it. There are some lovely harmonics in the intro, but I was getting big Vanish Canvas vibes. While it’s a good song, it’s not one I gravitate toward. Blue Reverie, however, hooked me by the third listen, and now it’s one of my favorite ERRA songs. Like Vanish Canvas, this track features Jesse on the verses rather than J.T., but he begins on the lower end of his register. In this classically-trained singer’s opinion, Jesse has the best singing voice in the business, bar none, and he’s in top form here, effortlessly moving up and down the scale. The pace picks up to an andante rhythm, which is more of a walking rhythm, with some nice snare action. At the instrumental break, we’re treated to some of that jangly, late 80s/early 90s guitar tone, followed by an ending that could have been taken straight out of the Edge’s (U2) book.
Slow Sour Bleed is the final single releasing before the album drops. It’s a more industrial-sounding beast right from the start, with the bouncy underlying rhythm, aggressive riffs, and the legato synth lines that feel looped throughout the verses. ERRA covered a NIN track, Heresy, on the Deluxe album, and this hits like ERRA covering NIN, except it’s not NIN. Jesse sings the verses and pre-chorus before J.T. drops those screams like a bomb in the chorus. The funky synth in the instrumental break, which I am told is called side-chaining compression, is often heard in EDM and the aforementioned industrial music. It’s an unexpected addition, but it works well in the context of this track and hints at interesting new directions for the band.
Wish is only about a minute and a half long, with a jazzier rhythm and a Stone Roses-esque vibe with that echo and sustain. It basically serves as an intro to Glimpse, which is one of the slower tracks, but those grinding riffs still pack a punch. It’s a more typical song structure for ERRA, with J.T. on the verses and Jesse on the chorus, but that chorus is something extra. Jesse harmonizing with himself in this track is absolutely brilliant, and those angelic upper notes give me goosebumps.
Past Life Persona is a more laid-back track, with an atmospheric intro and a simpler verse structure that meanders into a melodic chorus. Jesse sings both verse and chorus until the halfway point, where J.T. comes in with some lovely cleans at the pre-chorus. There are still some screams punctuating the chorus, and Jesse harmonizes with himself again here as well, which I can never get enough of. There’s a definite sort of poppy, radio-friendly vibe to this one, and although it’s not really my cup of tea, I’m not mad at it.
The third single, Crawl Backwards Out of Heaven, takes listeners on a much darker turn. It took a minute for this to grow on me, not unlike Scorpion Hymn from the self-titled. Like Slow Sour Bleed, this track is also more industrial sounding in the most literal sense of the word, with these buzzsaw-sounding riffs, but there is a significant amount of movement happening underneath. This track has a higher ratio of screams to cleans, with Jesse not making an appearance until 2/3rds of the way through. However, don’t miss the clever chord progressions in the title phrase, “crawl backwards out of heaven…” For the music theory aficionados, what is interesting here is that to create tension, they’re using the least stable scale degree for their neighboring tone. By going from the tonic to the leading tone with those sustained notes, they are crawling backwards down the scale. Whether this was intentional or not, I love the way the music emphasizes the narrative.
End to Excess feels like a callback to some of the best of their Drift era. It has more of the jangly guitar in the intro, followed by chunky, djenty riffs that steer us down memory lane. The rapid-fire drumming in the pre-chorus is a nice way to ratchet up the tension before the release of that melancholy chorus, where Jesse and J.T. take the cleans in turn. Jesse has primarily relied on more of a high, straight tone on this album, but there’s more urgency in parts of this track, reflected in the use of vocal fry that perfectly fits the mood. J.T. is also in great form throughout this track, harmonizing with himself on the screams and channeling all of the angst of the narrative in the verses. Going low and growly on “no end to excess” is the icing on the cake.
Pale Iris was released in August of 2023, so it almost feels like it belongs to another album. I’ll admit when I first heard it, I was a little underwhelmed; however, revisiting it with fresh ears and in the proper context helped me see all of the things I missed the first time around. It almost feels like a different mix, and it may be a different mix for the album vs. the single. It starts off fast and aggressive, and those chunky, bendy, rather synthy-y leads remind me of something off the Tron Legacy soundtrack before they go all mini-Meshuggah. I love Jesse’s subtle cleans behind the screams in the pre-chorus, and that chorus itself is huge, with the first pass featuring Jesse and J.T.’s cleans and subsequent choruses adding J.T.’s screams and Jesse harmonizing with himself throughout. Plus the line, “Return to the dirt” before that monster breakdown couldn’t be better placed. Despite my initial misgivings, I love this track now, and I have no idea what I was thinking back when this released.
The closing track, Wave, is a bit more what we’d think of as traditional proggy and a bit less djenty-proggy, not that they’re mutually exclusive. Like Past Life Persona, there’s a greater focus on the melodies of the guitars than on how they seem to bounce off of and/or complement the rhythm of the bass and drums. The interplay between Jesse and J.T.’s vocals is particularly satisfying in this track. You can hear J.T.’s increasing confidence as a singer, and Jesse’s soaring vocals have never sounded better. All in all, it’s as epic an ending as we could have asked for.
Overall, I think it’s important to note that with ERRA in particular, you can’t just focus on the chunky, surface-level riffs or left-hand wizardry, although there’s plenty of both. While there’s maybe not as much over-the-top technicality with the left hand on Cure, pay attention to what is going on with the right. There’s also a lot happening underneath, from the jazzy rhythms of Ballew and Hesse to the unexpected chord structures of Cash and Tustin to the layered vocals of Cash and Cavey. Once you parse out all of these different aspects, you can see how they’re streamlined to make the most of the space. The band keeps this wall of sound going by continuously giving each musician room to fill the interval while another is at rest. This classical-like structure is not unusual in metal, but it’s something I always pay close attention to with ERRA because they do it so well.
After 2021’s self-titled album, ERRA had some absolutely massive shoes to fill, but regardless, I’m not disappointed in Cure at all. ERRA’s self-titled is in my top three favorite metalcore albums ever, and it got me through some very tough times, so I knew I had to go into this with realistic expectations. However, I’m also not one of those people who have complained about literally everything since 2013’s Augment. Cure feels like a continuation and an expansion of their earlier works, which is exactly how it should be. Songs like End to Excess and Idle Wild clearly show how they’ve pulled from past influences, but Slow Sour Bleed and Crawl Backwards Out of Heaven are pointing toward a new direction.
As if it needed to be said, I am a huge fan of the band. Cure isn’t perfect; taken on its own merit, however, I thought it was extremely well done, and I’m quite pleased. ERRA is a well-oiled machine of talented professionals, the vocalists are faultless, the somewhat nihilistic lyrics are meaningful and relevant, and the production by Dan Braunstein (Spiritbox, Volumes, The Ghost Inside) is top-notch. It will have its detractors, as everything does, but my advice is to give Cure a chance to grow on you because it absolutely will.
(4.5 / 5)
