Future Of The Left: Curses

Indie-rock tends to be fairly well-mannered: Even

when it succumbs to metallic influences (see: the whole Isis/Pelican

"instro-metal" axis), it tends to remains polite. Whither the bands inspired by

the beautiful ugliness of The Jesus Lizard, those uninterested in the "stoner"

or "metal" tags, but willing and able to get nasty McLusky was one, but the

Welsh band flamed out before picking up much steam. Two years later, two-thirds

of the group have re-emerged, re-energized, as Future Of The Left, with

McLusky's ingratiating snottiness fully intact. Singer-guitarist Andrew Falkous

has a way with snarling words that ring both hilarious and scary ("Violence

solves everything," "Real men hunt in packs"), and he's refined it even further

with Curses,

an ingratiatingly ugly, fun blast of guitars and barks. "Plague Of Onces" feels

like audio whiplash; "Small Bones Small Bodies" creeps and chugs through the

sewer; and "The Contrarian" offers a surprisingly delicate finish, complete

with piano. Each moment is pleasantly unpleasant, as Curses hard-charges headfirst

into brute-rock without considering genre distinctions. It's bracing, exciting,

and refreshingly, nastily smart.