Release Date: March 02nd 2026. Record Label: Liar Records. Formats: DD/Vinyl
Cursebreaker - Tracklisting
1.Trapped in a Cave 04:59
2.Azathoth 04:18
3.Two Things 02:59
4.Human Suffering 03:03
5.Cast a Spell 03:28
6.Apostle 05:47
7.Apostle (Instrumental) 06:35
Members
Hank Rose - Guitar + Vocals
Adam O’Day - Drums + Vocals
Review
Doom/Sludge/Stoner Metallers Mollusk release their third album Cursebreaker and we’re lucky that this record was ever released. Mollusk has had quite the experience since starting to record this album back in 2017. Their BandCamp blurb for the album explains this further which I’ve outlined below:
The Cursebreaker story:
The first iteration was recorded in 2017-2021, but it didn't sound right and the files kept getting corrupted. We used these as demos for the next step. We have since gotten them to sound good, but they still don't sound like what we wanted to release.
The 2nd session was recorded in 2071-2024, but the engineer had a mental break and refused to give us our music. This is our friend, who produced Children of the Chron, 2012-2017. We wish him the best. There are roughly 18 demo tracks that will eventually be put up online for free.
The 3rd time's a charm I suppose. We recorded a combo of songs from both previous sessions in our rehearsal space (our DIY Venue The Lair) to make Cursebreaker. This will be the first album we press on vinyl in our 15 years as a band.
So, let's get down to this. Is Cursebreaker a good album? Yeah, it’s excellent but it’s still not perfect with the album being quite fractured and disjointed in places. However, what Mollusk has managed to pull off from these sessions is nothing but a miracle with the brutal sounds they’ve created within that time.
If you dig bands such as CONAN, HIGH ON FIRE, MASTODON, PRIMITIVE MAN and EYEHATGOD then Cursebreaker covers similar ground as those bands with Mollusk playing a brutal LOW & SLOW style of Doomed Out Music that gets behind the scenes of the grimy Doom, Sludge and Stoner Metal surroundings.
The vocals from both Hank Rose and Adam O’Day are superb with both of them providing a muscular and gruff style of vocals that’s perfectly suited to the underground Doom, Sludge and Stoner Metal scenes. There’s a lot of FUZZY REVERB from Mollusk where they explore every possible advantage of their DISTORTED creative environments.
The instrumental passages are laced with bleak melodies and subtle mood swings that you can experience from almost every aspect of the album.
However, there’s some intense musical melodies that develop on different parts of the record with Mollusk chewing the musical scenery with absolute demented relish. The lyrics are quite bleak and nihilistic which is perhaps influenced by the whole experiences of releasing this album along the way.
The standout tracks are: Trapped In A Cave, Azathoth, Human Suffering and both versions of Apostle, especially the instrumental version which was a rather great touch from the band to include.
Cursebreaker is a bleak and quite subversive record that perhaps works more convincingly as a down-tuned Sludge Metal record with flashes of Doom Metal and Stoner Metal holding everything together in the background. Hopefully, the next record from Mollusk won’t be another long wait as these guys have real talent and I want to hear more pissed off songs from the band in the near future.
Words by Steve Howe
Links
Facebook | BandCamp | Instagram
