Brief little review I wrote a while back for Bad Acid:
First time I’ve given one of Ramesses’s records a spin right through and I’m glad I did. Since losing track of them some years ago they’ve grown far beyond my expectations. There’s a surprisingly varied bag of stuff here from a band whose motto I thought was ‘Grimmer-Than-Thou, all the time’. Obviously Take the Curse is a hugely destructive and pessimistic celebration of the occult, the undead, drugs and despair, but there’s some deceptively subtle forces at work here. Yes there’s vast tracts of simple and effective riff, bowed-head grooves and massive tones that create a close and claustrophobic space, but also forays into a more open and epic sound with a less familiar set of harmonies I always associate with Crowbar or Yob. These twin forces of doom complement each other as nicely as the doubled vocals on much of the record, menacing throat-growls underpinning a misanthropic melodic line. The whole thing is a balancing act of these forces, of groove and attack (check out the first couple of minutes of Black Hash Mass), both present in abundance and executed with great art. Balancing spite and evil with slow despair and epic spaces makes Take the Curse more effective than an hour of blunt-force-trauma, and excellently selected samples from nicely obscure films punctuate the record while maintaining the oppressive atmosphere. After lots of shorter releases this long record (about an hour) really lets Ramesses set out the stall and show the full range of their sound, which might have seemed a bit one-dimensional in the early days. Granted maybe not all their longest-standing fans may feel that’s a good thing, but they’d be wrong! Take the Curse flows really well and gives you plenty of time to settle right into the gloriously wicked experience. Doom for them as likes it good - revel in its depravity, laugh open-throated at its satanic majesty, and stare wide-eyed and hopeless into the black night.
_________________ ...Satan is good, Satan is our pal...
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