Castle Ruins - You’re the Curse (Self Released)

Castle Ruins from Bordeaux, France include Colin Manierka on vocals, Guillaume Sajus on drums, and Maxime Coste handling guitars and backing vocals. I stumbled across their newest EP You’re the Curse during my mandatory hibernation. The three-piece are certainly not going to set the world on fire with musical evolution, rather it is of the post-hardcore, late-period grunge style and that works well for me. “Mud” starts off with urgency reminiscent of Jawbox in both vocal and guitar tones. The band stays on the harder side of mid-western alternative, think Molly Mcguire, especially during the second half of this song as they move into a less urgent pace, taking a breather before closing on an emotional breakdown. “Best Life” is grungier dream-pop with shouted lyrics, still predominantly in the post-hardcore tone evolving into a melodic less-harsh style, with well-placed use of distortion during the bridge. “Used to Feel This Way” is straight up punk with a hardcore edge, barked vocal delivery, proudly wearing Nirvana influences. So as already mentioned, nothing new here but nothing to complain about either, my fondest musical memories are from the early to mid-90s and this fits right in even though created 25 years later.