Erra // Cure
Erra had my favorite album in 2021, but I’m not impressed this time around. In general, too many of the songs feel scaled back and stripped down. The simpler, somewhat muted sound lends itself well to the basic grooves that the songs fall back on, but the transition to this style violates a few of the core principles that has made Erra so successful up to this point.
In every review I’ve ever written about a band that includes JT Cavey, I’ve said that he is the kind of screamer that serves as a great backbone for a band’s sound. He has minimal range and doesn’t do anything flashy, but he has the perfect tone and power for a band to build around. Historically, that worked great for Erra because Jesse Cash is an incredible singer and the band’s technical capabilities are top-tier.
But for this album, Erra watered down its instruments and diluted its sound in favor of a more basic approach. It reminds me a lot of what Northlane started doing on ‘Node’ and ‘Mesmer,’ where it sounds like they recorded the instruments under water, which I absolutely hate. Erra isn’t quite as offensive here, but the personality of the instruments is significantly diminished. “Slow Sour Bleed” is basically a Northlane cover song.
The biggest problem with ‘Cure’ is the fact that Jesse Cash’s singing is so lackluster. You can normally hear the power and energy in his voice, but this time around, it feels like he’s singing at half volume. His presence is hardly felt. The lack of power and engagement really affects how dynamic the songs feel.
This is probably a step too far, but I wonder if the fact that Jesse released an album with his side project Ghost Atlas earlier this year affected things. Maybe he put more energy into that album or it drained his creativity. Or maybe he just decided to try a new vocal style on this album. Either way, it’s a bummer because Jesse is normally the highlight, but he sounds like any other singer here. The only time that I got a little excited about his singing was on “End to Excess.”
To give credit where it’s due, JT Cavey continues to be a very solid screamer. Anything positive that I could say about this album is due to him. He is obviously not the type of frontman that can carry an entire band, and that’s fine, nobody expects him to do that with Erra. He played his part perfectly – it was the rest of the band that left him hanging.
Compared to Erra’s self-titled album, there is an extreme lack of riffs, resulting in fewer memorable moments. The choruses are also much more bland than what we’ve come to expect. The songs don’t have their own identity – nothing stands out.
The crazy thing is that this isn’t even a bad album. But if you go back and listen to their self-titled, this is just so boring in comparison. Songs like “Snowblood,” “Gungrave,” and “Vanish Canvas” are infinitely better than anything ‘Cure’ has to offer. Realistically, this is probably my least favorite Erra release so far.
