Leifendeth - Cursed Frequency

Review by Karl Magi

Overall Album Impressions
Leifendeth’s Cursed Frequency is a frightening auditory journey through demonic darkness, the swirling  shadows rising to engulf the listener as the album unleashes the music. Leifendeth’s synth palette creates unsettling sensations that combine with grumbling bass, ferocious drumbeats and disturbing vocal samples. The end result is an album that has me looking over my shoulder when the lights go out.

The evocation of a shadowed atmosphere shot through with pervasive fear is one of the reasons Cursed Frequency works as an album. Leifendeth’s synth selection is rife with howling, grunting, chittering sounds that generate tension, nervousness and outright terror as they combine. The serious bass weight contributes a sense of an expanding abyss and the battering drums add hellish aggression to the mix.

I also enjoy the way in which Cursed Frequency uses voiceovers and vocal samples to build up feelings of paranormal horror, a horror that lurks just out of sight until humans foolishly decide to dabble in it. Leifendeth has clearly thought about when and where to use this vocal element because it has a strong impact when he deploys it. I get a deliciously creepy thrill from hearing the words moving in the darkness.

My Favourite Tracks Analyzed

“Paranormal” starts off as a shadowy sonic wave is broken by a contorted vocal sample. Throbbing drums pound deeply and static sounds hiss while undulating twilight waves wash before the disturbing vocal sample grows silent.

Metallic clanking, dribbling sounds and a steady dark shiver open “Cursed Frequency.” A vocal sample breaks in, talking about haunting and giving power to evil phenomena. Wriggling sounds and haunted bass shift as a battering, charging beat forces the music forward. The writhing noises effectively add a feeling of creeping danger.

Minor key bass notes wander in a slowly developing line as throbbing drums pound on with relentless force. Lost noises float and metal clanks as a quickly rising, digital sound climbs up. The background tension ramps up, increasing the lurking threat implied in the music as drumbeat rushes on.

The vocal sample talks about the danger of being open to paranormal experiences as the rising, forceful beat throbs. Angular sounds cut over the flowing shadowy depths that guide the music back into quiet.

“Phantoms In Static (dead edit)” starts as wobbling sounds and continual static move behind a sample of a man talking about being contacted by the dead. A slightly limping, uneven beat and thundering drums drag the track along as sharp-edged bass pulses thread through the music. I am drawn to the urgent, portentous power that fills the track. Slipping, oozing sounds move and elevated, flickering notes shift in rebounding lines.

Medium-high, round synth cascades and expanding, dangerous sounds tremble through the music. Bell-like notes tumble down as the lopsided beat keeps on throbbing. Bending sounds squirm before a segment full of gently flowing synth waves moves in and the bell-like notes descend. The drumbeat pulses on and on, as descending minor key synths float into static silence.

Pulsing static forms a pattern that flows into the music along with a void-deep bass rumble as “Ghost 2” commences. Imminent, intense foreboding pours from the music, effectively creating an atmosphere of heavy dread. An angry, sibilant voice says “what are you doing, this is my house, leave me alone!” Washing sonic waves move as heavy bass and popping static backs the evil voice demanding the trespassers leave.

“Dead Signal (post-mortem mix)” opens as dense, weighty synth adds horrifying power behind the skittering sounds rushing by. Minor key, bell-like notes ring out with a harsh brightness while the drums bounce and cascade, jagged sounds and flickering chimes moving as the heavy drums fall.

There’s a spectral wavering in the track as the bells ring with a brittle tension. Falling bass contributes more stress to the music, making me feel uneasy in a powerful way. A steadily flickering sound is cut by descending bells as a voice speaks of the responsibility to warn the world of an unknown threat as densely shifting sounds and static pulsation go on.

Indistinct mutterings and high pitched sounds drift into an open void as “Eternal” begins. Deep bass waves tremble below a droning synth as a poetic voiceover beautifully mingles shadow and tenderness in its words. A voice drags backwards though the music in an unsettling motion.

A tripping drumbeat shapes the music and hollow, high synths cry out. Disturbing voices wander and the drumbeat pulses before the music drifts into a floating, rumbling void where spectral sounds waver. Static distantly crackles as we fade out into silence and hissing air.

“Headfirst Into The Abyss” comes to life as sweeping synths exude a thick umbra while drums pulse in broken moments and metallic sounds clank. Elevated, ghostly synths trail through the track as a throbbing drumbeat and rapidly oscillating, rushing bass charge in. High sounds are skillfully used to create a horrifying atmosphere that is full of danger. Drums and bass drive the music onward in a headlong leap.

Chanting vocals move in, delivering a message about going “headfirst into the abyss, charging into a cosmic war.” All of the sounds grow muffled before roaring into full force again. Stuttering, raised synths shiver through the music as the huge drumbeat bursts and bass throbs. The track gains angry momentum as evolving, whirling higher synths accentuate the drumbeat. As the music ends, it closes on a distorted skitter.

Gigantic, pulsating drums and jagged synth edges lacerate “Rust and Fog (Sidekickwave mix)” as it starts off. Tightly wound, elevated synth wriggles and squirms above the heaving power below it. Metallic tapping and snarling, harsh sounds move around a demonic voice's whispering. Above it, the rough, flanging sounds twist and turn.

I am drawn to the way in which the demonic voice adds a fearful layer over the torn, shattered soundscape and heavy drums. Even heavier bass rumbles below and expanding, powerful sounds contort above the terrifying depths. A terror stricken female voice cries out and the evil creature seems to respond before the track ends.

“Dark Energy”  begins with squelching sounds and a vocal sample about opening up a doorway to a demonic world and not being ready to accept the consequences of that action. Twinkling bells add a delicately worried sound as a string section’s resonant drive contributes motion.

Creaking synths descend over the slowly tapping drumbeat and solid bass. I am enamoured of the way in which elevated, bright sounds are complemented by descending weight.  A howling wind adds to the sensation of impending doom before silence falls.

Truly colossal bass rattles and growls as a steady breathy sound rushes in to kick off “Broadcast X.” Harsh, buzzing static moves while crackling sounds scratch through. A distorted voice mumbles in a disembodied fashion before the drums form a steady brushing sound broken by massive thumps.

Underneath it all, the bass is a forceful weight as the massive drums pound with aggression now to move the track forward. I enjoy the terrific heft and surging power that permeates this track before it closes out.

Conclusion

Cursed Frequency is an exploration of the hidden forces of darkness that lurk just under the surface of the world and the awful things that happen when they’re unleashed. Leifendeth has woven a shattering, howling, static-filled soundscape that creates deliciously terrifying sensations as it unfolds through the album.