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Not that long ago (Though it will likely be longer by the time you're reading this) I was submitted an artist who had covered a particular song and I listened to it just to hear how it went but I didn't enjoy it. This made me think of another artist who covered the same song and that of course made me go back and listen to the music of that artist, who is 1000 Mona Lisas. I'm never sure how much people know about music and if I say "This sounds like ____" whether or not that makes sense to them because my influences growing up and yours might be very different. Artists I hold in such high regard might have never been heard by you before.
When I heard "Curse of Cushing" I knew that Cushing is a band which can fit into that "alternative" or "modern" rock genre in the sense that if this was the early 1990's this sound would fit in so perfectly. It's those big, drowning guitars that sometimes sludge through the songs and other times just start and stop and take us into this place that's so dark, so heavy. Between Nirvana and Campground Effect, Marcy Playground and Helmet, Cushing just has that sound from that specific era but it would have stood out as exceptional back then so right now, in 2018, it stands out even more as "Wow, why haven't I heard this before?"
In some ways, yes, it does feel like Cushing is a band that existed in a different time and these songs are being presented now as re-releases of forgotten about Sub Pop records from a time when "Bleach" might have overshadowed them but looking back now you kind of wish you had been listening to this more back then. But I'm sure it is from the present and not past because it many ways it feels like this could only be forged by someone experiencing the last twenty years of rock music as well as all that came before it. To only have the knowledge of rock music up until the 1990's might not have been able to create such an album as this.
But then there is the problem. If this is modern, which it is, what modern bands does it sound like? Where are the modern influences? There is some Local H in here, but that would be their older stuff ("Here Comes The Zoo" era I'd say). There are some hints of Queens of the Stone Age but I'm not sure how "modern" that is nowadays either. But is it my fault the radio no longer plays rock music? Is it the fault of Cushing? It's just kind of crazy for me to think that back in 1993 the radio stations would've been all over this and now they're more concerned with... Well, I'd rather not listen to the radio, let's just say that.
Which, in reality, is sad because a lot of bands I listened to growing up I did so because they were on the radio. When I was growing up, there was no Spotify, SoundClound, Bandcamp, etc. and a lot of times in order to hear new bands you'd get soundtracks or compilations (which were CDs) which bands on them and go "Oh, I know this band, but I don't know this one", so you'd hear bands you didn't know that way and it'd help bring them exposure, but man, it was so difficult to hear new bands back then compared with now so I just hope everyone can appreciate how easy it is for you to hear these songs right now and take advantage of that because this is not "a good album for the 1990's" or "a good album for right now" it's just an all around kick-ass album.
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