UK’s The Cure are one of the most important names when it comes to goth rock and possibly just goth culture overall. Their ability to blend dreamy melodies with depressing and morose lyrics has won over countless fans around the world and made them a cornerstone in the great landscape of music.

One track that has been a mainstay of The Cure’s concert setlist is “A Forest”, which appeared on their 1980 album Seventeen Seconds. Their first UK chart-appearing song, the near six-minute song is a wonderful example of the band’s ability to create a hypnotic yet almost dismal journey.

However, for some people The Cure’s descent into darkness is hampered by their lack of aggression. To use Spinal Tap as a reference, they only go up to about a 4 while some want it cranked to 11. That, my dear friends and readers, is where Curezum, the metal supergroup of Billy Anderson (The Melvins), Rob Vikernes, Marti Hill (Barrowlands) and Mort Subite (Megaton Leviathan), come in.

Below we have the exclusive premiere of their cover of “A Forest”, which has been given a seriously distorted upgrade. Complete with ridiculous corpse paint and a grim reaper chasing the band members through, you guessed it, a forest, this video is embracing its tongue-in-cheek nature. While the video might be silly, the song tackles the source material with respect and admiration, making it a solid yet unique cover.

You can order “A Forest” through Bandcamp.

Looking back, “A Forest” is one of the defining moments of post-punk and (to a lesser degree) gothic rock. At the time, it didn’t splash quite as largely as some of its contemporaries in the newly constructed pool of DIY hitmakers, but history would prove the Cure to be the band that beat all odds and became beloved by millions worldwide, bringing their doom and gloom dirges and sickly-sweet pop bent to charts and stages right through to this very day.

Curezum’s take on “A Forest” is the bleakest possible interpretation. Desperation made manifest. The pulse pounding crush of heartbreak and anxiety transduced through blast beats, monstrous howls from the edge of sanity, the skull crushing monotony of maybe 6 total bass notes, as mournful guitars thrash and flail in their general vicinity and the whole time that haunting keyboard melody drawing you in, deeper and deeper into the dark, primal terror beyond the trees.

Of course Curezum would fuck all that up and make a schlocky, b-grade slasher movie tribute video for a song that could make Elmo suicidal, but we had… well, not fun making it, (in fact it was a grueling chore that we all needed several days to recuperate from), but we finished it and you’re watching it on one of the biggest horror websites on the internet, and that’s all that really matters.

Enjoy. Or don’t. We don’t particularly care one way or the other as long as you watch just enough to give us ad revenue.

Keep it CVRE,
Curezum

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