O principal tema de “From The Darkest of Places“, o mais recente disco dos norte-americanos This Curse, é a monofobia, uma desordem emocional caracterizada pelo medo intenso de ficar sozinho. E não apenas fisicamente, mas também em termos de não nos sentirmos envolvidos, desejados ou amados.

Em baixo Ethan Kennedy (voz) e Joey Galletta (voz/guitarra) falam-nos um pouco mais sobre cada música deste disco.

Joey Galletta: This track was one of the earlier ones written for the record, but like some of the others, went through a bunch of changes before it became what it is now. Guitar-wise, I used a lot of chromatics and dissonant chords to give the riffs a “dirty” vibe. I was very inspired by bands like Norma Jean and Every Time I Die for that. This one is also very electronic heavy. Branton and I really experimented with a lot of different synths and effects to give the big, ambient backdrop for the guitars and vocals to play over.

Ethan Kennedy: This track is about the cynicism that comes from growing up. We’ve always been the kind of band that kept our head down and focused on our goals, but it’s hard not to get wrapped up in the negativity that surrounds us when you’re involved with so many different people and personalities.

Joey Galletta: This song and track 4 (“Usurper”) were the first two songs we wrote for the album and we were actually playing these two on our last tour a year ago. This song went through the most revisions out of all of them. I’ve got about 25 different versions of the song sitting on my hard drive from pre-production. We wanted to write something that was high energy from the beginning to end and that all started with the first riff. Once we had that riff and Jake put the “punk beat” over it, we had something to work off of and did our thing with it. This is one of my favorites to play live.

Ethan Kennedy: This track is probably one of the darkest songs I’ve ever written. It tells a story of a couple who share a relationship solely based on the harm and destruction caused by both of them. The lyrics take the role of the main character from the other songs who has yet again messed up something meaningful in the relationship, and trying to justify the wrong doing. Realizing this won’t be the last time, he tries to think of lies to escape the fights, and thinks about not how he can fix it, but rather how long it will be until he messes up something again. “Another lie to you, another ten-thousand ways. I’ll find a way to crawl back to you, my self-destructive taste”. Throughout the course of the song, the main character explains how this is not the first time this has happened, but starts going crazy thinking of the consequences of his actions. However, he realizes that he is not the only one who has done something wrong in the relationship and tries to justify his actions with this mindset. Apologetic and hoping for another chance, the first chorus explains the feelings of just wanting to pretend that nothing has happened, and wants to start fresh. However, he knows this will not be the last time. “Pretend that everything, that you’ve heard about me is not real” “You’ll see that no one can stop this, so run while you can from here”. Starting from here the “cycle” starts yet again. Throughout the rest of the song, the lyrics back up the fact that this cycle will never end. “Feel the dead-weight pull you under, screaming, if you’re drowning save your last breath. How many times must I put this to rest? I’ve never pictured this our death.” Even though both characters in this “story” do things that are wrong to each other, they would rather continue with what they are comfortable with than be left alone.

Joey Galletta: Normally when I write, I start with the music/instrumentals and shape the vocals around that. This song was different because it started with a vocal melody. I came up with the, “I’m waiting and now I’m caught in the open,” and wrote the whole song around that. Because of how vocal heavy this song is, I had to figure out a way to make the instrumentals stand out, but also not over-simplify them and make it boring. I think we definitely achieved that with this song and it’s probably my favorite on the album. We tried a lot of new things with this one and definitely stepped out of our writing comfort zone.

Ethan Kennedy: This song was lyrically written by Joey and myself. It takes a look at the difficulties of someone who constantly feels unwanted and alone, even though there are many people reaching out. In this song there are two characters, one being the author and the other being the character with monophobia. The author is trying to help the other individual cope with the fact that they feel unwanted. “I’m waiting, and now I’m caught in the open. You’re hurting, I see it pushing you to the edge. Can’t run away, cause you’re the only thing that’s holding you in your tracks”. This line refers to the fact that no matter how much emotional pain the character experiences, they are the only one who is causing this digression. “I’ve lost my faith, waiting on endless choices. While you’re changing your aim of misery, don’t lose your sight while you focus. How could you blame me?” This line is specifically referring to the author. No matter how much help they try and give the other individual, the blame is always put on something or someone else, rather than just admitting the problem.

Joey Galletta: Last year on tour, we were playing a very old version of this song along with “Trauma Bond.” Like that song, this one went through a ton of changes, but it shaped up to be one of the heaviest tracks on the album. I took a similar approach to the riffs that I did with the first song (“From the Darkest of Places”). The chorus on this song is one of my favorites and it definitely has a different vibe from the rest of the album.

Ethan Kennedy: This song refers to individuals following a mindset of the masses and the dangers of always trying to fit in. Over the years, we’ve never been the band that really fit into any one particular scene because of our sound and we think that ultimately this played in our favor. We’ve seen a lot of bands come and go over the years and a lot of that has to do with over-saturation. This song is a very metaphorical play on how blindly following what other people are doing is never a good thing.

Joey Galletta: With this track, Ethan and I experimented with a lot of back and forth vocal parts. Having him actually sing on our stuff is something we were all so stoked about and it really meshed well with my vocals. This song is very all over the place stylistically, but has some of my favorite riffs on the whole album. We really tried to create a strong contrast between the heavier sections and the sing-along melodic sections, but still tie it all together with some form of consistency.

Ethan Kennedy: This song is about hitting an all-time low in your life and finally coming to terms with finding a way to fight your way out. It paints a picture for the listener, of a perpetual falling motion or a straight decline into rock bottom hence the name “Free Fall”. In my opinion, is the actual “climax” of our album, where the main character finds themselves at the absolute worst point in life. The beginning starts off explaining how over the course of the past few years, each and every negative aspect is latching on to the author, and pulling them deeper, drowning in the abyss of depression. The main character then asks, even after all of these horrible experiences, “would you even recognize me anymore?” The song continues to question, with every negative aspect and person holding the main character down from achieving their goals in life, how could you achieve anything? Soon after, the main character comes to the realization that the negativity they are experiencing is just the “curse” they were born with, and it will in fact never go away. After coming to terms with the negativity, the main character sees that the only easy way out of this is giving in to the ones who doubted them and ultimately giving up on life. Finally, the character has made the decision to continue with this hell-ish life, and says to themselves “I’ve hit rock bottom more than I can count, if I’m stuck falling how can I climb out? Reaching for me is the hand of doubt, but I’d rather fall until I hit the ground”.  I feel like this verse gives a bit of hope, that if it can only get worse, give it your all until you’ve actually ‘hit the ground.’

Joey Galletta: In my opinion, this song is both the heaviest and lightest song on the album. What I mean by that is that the heavy sections are very chug-oriented kind of stuff that relies heavily on the groove, but the choruses and bridge are very harmonically dense and filled with tons of melodies in the vocals, guitars, and keys. It’s a huge contrast, but it gives the song dynamics and that’s something we always strive for as songwriters.

Ethan Kennedy: The inspiration from this song came from the difficulties of trying to adapt in modern society amongst others. Throughout my time in college, I came across many people that I tried to get close with. Many would explain their life stories, and hardships with me and made me feel somewhat close to these individuals. However, many of them came and went as life takes us down many different paths, only to cross again later down the line. Coming across these individuals later in life became off-putting to me. Trying to engage with one another how we used to became difficult since we were out of the confinements of schooling. It dawned on me that sometimes people only look for friends to share the suffering with, and when it is all over, yet again you will be left alone.

Joey Galletta: I lied. Technically THIS song is the oldest song out of everything we wrote for this album, but we weren’t planning on using this originally. About three years ago, we wrote a song that featured that “jammy” ending section that we used for this song. We were always in love with that whole part, but we were never satisfied with the rest of the song. We decided to scrap the first half of that song and write something that we could tie into that melodic ending. This song is by far the most diverse and far out for us in terms of what we’ve done in the past, but we think it’s going to be a fan favorite because of that. Even if it isn’t, we love it and that’s all that matters.

Ethan Kennedy: The inspiration behind this song is fairly simple. It looks at a monogamous relationship, and the wrongdoings that many of us can cause or experience with our significant other. In the lyrics, it shows that the main character has been off and on with their partner for quite some time, but has finally taken the initiative to finally end it and move on. However, there are still feelings of regret coming from the partner. Wanting to move on, or “let go”, this song explains how even though at one point the two could have made things work out, it seems pretty clear to the writer that they are just better off on their own. The reason we chose this as the last track on the album is because the ending of the song creates a resolution to the album, musically and thematically. It shows how even though that constant fear of being alone comes with ending the relationship, sometimes things need to end, and get worse before it can get better.