With the release of the SoCal metalcore outfit Atreyu's sophomore album, it's time again to embrace Brandon Saller's galloping kick drum triplets and Alex Varkatzas's throat-shredding guttural lead vocals. THE CURSE expands mightily on the promise and power of their debut, SUICIDE NOTES AND BUTTERFLY KISSES. The loneliness and seclusion of life on the road (SUICIDE NOTES sold nearly a million copies, leading to the inevitable year-long tour and separation from friends and loved ones) here brings forth an explosion of creativity. THE CURSE's opening salvo of "Bleeding Mascara" is closely followed by the morbid imagery of "This Flesh a Tomb", while the headlong metal rush of "You Eclipsed By Me" is best felt, not heard, at full ear-crushing volume. "My Sanity on the Funeral Pyre" again references the results of the band's aforementioned debilitating tour schedule, but when enforced seclusion begets a set of songs this good it's hard to resist the thought that Atreyu's punishing work ethic may not be such a bad thing for their music.