Live review from Death Metal Dungeon:
1. River of Blood
2. Unholy Night
3. Specter’s Garden
4. Future in My Eyes
5. Consciousness Lost
6. Down With Me
People were already being turned away at the door by the time Cursed Eyes took to the stage of the Wave Music Studio. The melodic death metal quartet kicked things off with a hauntingly atmospheric recording of stringed instruments over a low, deep piano that transitioned into a military-style drum beat before the band launched into River of Blood. Frontman Benjamin Cheng’s deep, guttural growls laid thick over fast riffs, with a catchy chorus that almost invited the crowd to roar along, assuming they were ok with not being able to speak the next day.
No time was wasted breaking into Unholy Night, a showcase of shredding that had me wishing from the back of the venue that the band – or at the very least, the lead guitarist – made use of the small stage available rather than playing at the same level of the crowd. My quibbles were quickly forgotten as Specter’s Garden kicked in, addictive verses running into deliciously dueling guitars decked with vicious vocals.
Future in My Eyes saw the band’s wah-wah pedal put through its paces, the singer’s growls growing ever harsher as perhaps the result of already stripping off the top layer of his trachea. But it can be hard to get a Hong Kong metal crowd going and, possibly due to an under-alcoholed audience – the event poster neglected to mention to BYOB – people had yet to jump to life. Consciousness Lost was next to valiantly try, wild riffs, intense drumming and crazy solos viciously colliding, before Down With Me and its melodic guitar passages closed things out.
Passionate applause saw the band off, but throughout the set they didn’t quite get the response the music deserved.
– Ti Zae Yi
Live review from Heavy #21
1. river of blood
2. be my sacrifice
3. frezzing to death
4. madding angel
5. unholy night
6. future in my eyes
作為開場樂隊,Cursed Eyes開頭的兩首歌 River of Blood & Be My Sacrifice未有太大驚喜,比較似為聽眾稍稍熱身。第三首歌Freezing to death就絕對展現了樂隊的特色,以及其與一般重金屬搖滾樂隊的分別。此歌緩慢而不失重金屬味,主音的死喉在這首較慢的歌中展露了個人風格,穩定地唱出死喉低音,呈現與歌名一致的感覺,使聽眾緩慢地感受到死喉的逼近、纏繞和漩渦式的重金屬風格。其餘曲目Madding Angel, Unholy Night & Future In My Eyes則較普通,偶有爆發位,但卻失去了第三首歌的獨特死亡韻味。
– 傑仔
Even though it stated that this band plays melodic death metal, the band displayed a bit of a mix of metal styles, ranging from trash to hardcore punk to doom to death to black. The gig was high energy. Using samples at the beginning of songs added to the atmosphere, creating a solid foundation for what was to come. The use of solos and the various styles brought forward in single songs certainly didn’t create boredom. The sound was tight and the players skillful. I heard Exodus and Slayer, Paradise Lost, Bloodbath and Arch Enemy. Certainly fans of these bands would be well catered for. Vocals ranged from growling to screeching; again, it seems the band wanted to present a vast spectrum of abilities and styles, however, at times, it seemed a bit all over the place. All band members definitely possess the skill.
– Matt Harris
Live review from Heavy #13:
1. River Of Blood
2. When The Hell Was Calling
3. Freezing To Death
4. Running Before Dawn
5. Future In My Eyes
Headliners Cursed Eyes took to the Orange Peel stage with the kind of heads-down diligence that tells you to expect something technical and very, very heavy. It was only last December that the band played their Shazza show, but they turned enough heads in the meantime to be rewarded with a Heavy headline slot.
The ferocity began with the velvety riffs and gurgling vocals of River of Blood, one of the least dramatically named songs in a five-song of pure death metal theatrics. Big-haired frontman and guitarist Benjamin Cheng tortured his tonsils with a formidable growl that didn’t let up for the whole set – an impressive feat considering his simultaneous intricate fretwork.
Blending influences from The Faceless to Slayer to Fleshgod Apocalyse to Necrophagia, the band layered its music with surgical precision, before blasting through it all with walls of distorted, downtuned riffing. After the sinister When Hell Was Calling, it was time for the first live outing for Freezing To Death, a hornet’s nest of tremolo picking and barked vocals.
“I want you to go crazy for me,” ordered Cheng before introducing closer Future In My Eyes with a demonic roar. Naturally, the room obliged in a maelstrom of thrashing limbs and wind-milling hair to the tune of melodic riffing, crashing drums, frog-croak vocals and a shrieking Iron Maiden solo. “Wow! I’ve never seen so much dancing at a Heavy night,” remarked Chris B at the end of the set. It was a rip-roaring finale to a knockout event.
– El Jay