{"id":70661,"date":"2018-10-09T13:00:49","date_gmt":"2018-10-09T12:00:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/?p=70661"},"modified":"2018-10-08T22:59:18","modified_gmt":"2018-10-08T21:59:18","slug":"review-cursive-vitriola","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/review-cursive-vitriola\/","title":{"rendered":"Review: Cursive &#8211; Vitriola"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft size-medium wp-image-70662\" src=\"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/928908-300x300.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"300\" title=\"\" srcset=\"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/928908-300x300.jpg 300w, https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/928908-100x100.jpg 100w, https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/928908-150x150.jpg 150w, https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/928908.jpg 425w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/>It&#8217;s been six years since their last record, but <strong>Cursive<\/strong> have finally found time to reflect on the feeling of hopelessness and imminent dystopia pervading American society. As such, their eighth album <i>&#8216;Vitriola&#8217;<\/i> is a cathartic experience sure to resonate among the disenfranchised. Despite the bleak subject matter, their hard indie-rock is pleasantly melodic, reminiscent of Conor Oberst&#8217;s Desaparecidos, but with lovely touches of cello and the occasional sound effect.<\/p>\n<p><i>&#8216;Free to Be or Not to Be You and Me&#8217;<\/i> kicks it off like a disturbing dystopian musical, with its interesting mix of angular guitars and visceral vocals, before segueing into the similarly jarring <i>&#8216;Pick Up The Pieces&#8217;<\/i>, with its touches of cello and distinctly hooky chorus. This discordant, yet theatrically melodic air re-surfaces later on the quirky <i>&#8216;Ouroboros&#8217;<\/i>, which climaxes in a swathe of synths. Meanwhile, tracks like <i>&#8216;Under The Rainbow&#8217;<\/i>, showcase their more aggressive side in a flurry of harsh riffs, while the brooding bass line and searing mid-section of <i>&#8216;Life Savings&#8217;<\/i> add plenty of vitriol to the barbed social commentary.<\/p>\n<p><iframe title=\"Cursive - Vitriola\" width=\"800\" height=\"450\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/videoseries?list=PLI1M9GrqxUioV6Zb8MR38Im6WwVwlqcJB\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>However, it is the more melancholic, reflective moments that most shine through. <i>&#8216;Remorse&#8217;<\/i> is especially haunting with its desolate piano and plaintive vocal echoing regret to a backdrop of feedback; then there&#8217;s the edgy dark pop and sublime strings of <i>&#8216;It&#8217;s Gonna Hurt&#8217;<\/i>, as well as the emotional edge and cool hook to the excellent <i>&#8216;Everending&#8217;<\/i>.<\/p>\n<p>It all comes to a triumphant finale on the cello-rich epic, <i>&#8216;Noble Soldier &#8211; Dystopian Lament&#8217;<\/i>, a grand showcase of all the elements gracing the record; quirky time changes, melancholic lamentation for innocence lost, crunching riffs, brooding bass, swathes of electronica, bitter anguish at the need for conformity and a stirring climax.<\/p>\n<p>This is the sound of a band doing what they do best in an intelligent take on the current state of the Western world. There&#8217;s plenty to relate to and plenty to get your ears round.<\/p>\n<p>4\/5<\/p>\n<p><i>&#8216;Vitriola&#8217;<\/i> by <strong>Cursive <\/strong> is out now on <strong>Big Scary Monsters<\/strong>\u00a0\/ <strong>15 Passenger<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Cursive <\/strong>links:\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/cursivearmy.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Website<\/a>\u00a0|\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/cursive\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Facebook<\/a> |\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/cursivetheband\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Twitter<\/a>\u00a0| <a href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/cursivetheband\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Instagram<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Words by\u00a0Edward Layland (<a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/edwardlayland\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">@EdwardLayland<\/a>)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&#8216;Vitriola&#8217; is a cathartic experience sure to resonate among the disenfranchised<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":70662,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[16041,5879,2884,2055,15028],"class_list":["post-70661","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-album-reviews","tag-15-passenger","tag-album-reviews","tag-big-scary-monsters","tag-cursive","tag-edward-layland"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.7 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Review: Cursive - Vitriola - Already Heard Staging<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"&#039;Vitriola&#039; is a cathartic experience sure to resonate among the disenfranchised\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"noindex, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_GB\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Review: Cursive - Vitriola - Already Heard Staging\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"&#039;Vitriola&#039; is a cathartic experience sure to resonate among the disenfranchised\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/review-cursive-vitriola\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Already Heard Staging\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AlreadyHeard\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2018-10-09T12:00:49+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/928908.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"425\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"425\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Edward Layland\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@EdwardLayland\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@alreadyhearduk\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Edward Layland\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Estimated reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Review: Cursive - Vitriola - Already Heard Staging","description":"'Vitriola' is a cathartic experience sure to resonate among the disenfranchised","robots":{"index":"noindex","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"og_locale":"en_GB","og_type":"article","og_title":"Review: Cursive - Vitriola - Already Heard Staging","og_description":"'Vitriola' is a cathartic experience sure to resonate among the disenfranchised","og_url":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/review-cursive-vitriola\/","og_site_name":"Already Heard Staging","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AlreadyHeard\/","article_published_time":"2018-10-09T12:00:49+00:00","og_image":[{"width":425,"height":425,"url":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/928908.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Edward Layland","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@EdwardLayland","twitter_site":"@alreadyhearduk","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Edward Layland","Estimated reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/review-cursive-vitriola\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/review-cursive-vitriola\/"},"author":{"name":"Edward Layland","@id":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/#\/schema\/person\/11c13007dfba29fee4dd833752d9eaaf"},"headline":"Review: Cursive &#8211; 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