Curse Of The Forgotten - Building The Palace

A new band to the metal scene, Curse Of The Forgotten formed in 2006 in the Netherlands and released their first demo in 2010, titled "Sacrifice". It went to the finals of the Dutch competition Metalbattle in 2011 and lead them to a record deal with the Italian label WormHoleDeath. They’re releasing their first full-length album, "Building The Palace", this year and more than that it’s being mastered by Cryptopsy’s Christian Donaldson.

When the album opened with 'Time Marches On', a melodic ambient track laid with some black metal-esque vocals, I was anticipating something akin to Bathory’s "Blood, Fire, Death". As soon as the the second track started with a clean drum fill I realized things were a little different. The quality of the recording on "Building The Palace" is great, and even though the vocal styles have similarities to Bathory, Curse Of The Forgotten vocals sound much clearer. It negates some of those black metal qualities I had anticipated. The clarity on this album probably has something to do with having Donaldson in on the production, coming from a band with a technical background. The whole album is held together very well, no one piece of the band stands out too much, or gets lost.

After listening to a few more tracks Curse Of The Forgotten slipped into a groove metal style of playing. In general they have more qualities of Lamb Of God, but with a bit of their own flare. They mix in other elements, such as the melodic qualities from the opening track, that keep them from being one of the many riff farming mimic bands.

Curse Of The Forgotten is carving out a spot for themselves with "Building The Palace". Their debut album is put together, and provides an enjoyable listen. Anyone looking for something new from the groove metal genre should pick up this album, and keep an eye on this band.


  1. Time Marches On
  2. Snake
  3. Electric Disaster
  4. Building The Palace
  5. Erasing Piece By Piece
  6. The Prisoner
  7. A Living Lie
  8. Slave's Plague
  9. Who Is Betraying
  10. 77
  11. Mission Corrupted