The last time I covered VANNA, I visually debased their EP The Search Party Never Came by comparing it to a pile of trash. Despite my hopes that we’d never hear from VANNA again, the band soldiered on and recorded a full-length with the respectable Matt Bayles. I have to wonder what goes through Bayles’ mind when working on a matter like this. While this isn’t the first time he’s worked with a band that draws much inspiration from BOTCH (Helloooooooo NORMA JEAN), VANNA must feel like a real construction project. So it is with that in mind when I say that Curses isn’t so bad. No, Curses is not some groundbreaking endeavor, but among a plethora of semi-melodic metalcore-lite bands, VANNA hold their own. Like DROP DEAD GORGEOUS, THE DEVIL WEARS PRADA, or even ATREYU, there’s not a lick of substance to VANNA’s music. Vapid, single-tracked lyrics hinder this release from having any kind of bedrock foundation. But if you’re not a lyrics person, then well, Curses is fairly captivating. Drummer Brandon Davis is no slouch behind the kit, and guitarists Nick Lambert and Evan Pharmakis do a lot of intertwined layering to create rich soundscapes. It doesn’t take much more than a listen to the eighth track, “Country Boys… Goddamn,” to hear how much VANNA has grown since Search Party (ironically, Curses’ “Country Boys…” is a reworked version of a song that was originally written before the release of Search Party). Even the interspersion of melodic vocals is less hokey this time around (though the band still feels the need to slog through the most boring and basic guitar chugging this side of an E-TOWN CONCRETE release). Before Curses, it seemed that VANNA’s place on the Epitaph roster was simply unexplainable. And while VANNA still have a long way to go before their sound stands out on its own, at least they no longer seem like the subject of some kind of cruel joke.

Epitaph

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