Let Your Inner Goth Out with The Dead and Living’s Stellar The Author’s Curse

Sometimes an album comes along that makes such a profound impact upon me I’m at a loss for words. So it was with The Dead and Living’s delightfully stellar third album, The Author’s Curse, which arrived last fall (on Halloween, naturally) in my inbox via the band themselves on no less than three separate occasions. Finally, months later, here we are… though I’ve been jamming it constantly ever since.

The Author’s Curse is full of the dark anthems you’ve been craving, the current goth revival’s answer to the morbidity of Type O Negative, the singalong catchiness of H.I.M. and the swagger and kitsch of The 69 Eyes all rolled into one. Its deep hooks had me from the moment the opening notes of the album’s first full proper track, “The Chronic Emptiness,” struck my ears, and they haven’t let go ever since, each song setting its barbs deep inside my brain and refusing any efforts to dislodge them. Every song’s got a singalong chorus, the production is top-notch, and the vibes are decidedly love-lorn and sad.

What’s more, the album comes with a hilarious tongue-in-cheek backstory, displaying the band’s penchant for the dramatic, sense of humor and self-awareness all in one shot:

“On October 25, 2014, all members of the rock band The Dead And Living died in a tragic accident. ‪At five o’clock‬ in the morning, the bands’s tour bus exploded halfway through a tunnel outside the alpine town of Graz. When rescue personnel arrived at the scene, the vehicle was in flames. Less than a day after the accident, an Austrian fan posted a video showing the remains of the band, a clip that gained 132 million views before being deleted by YouTube.

“The Author’s Curse is created in the parallel reality where everyone got out in time. Where the author allowed his characters to live a little longer. They went home to their families, got interviewed about the trauma, and decide to create an album worth dying for. 

Incredible, right? If that alone doesn’t make you at least wanna give it a few minutes of your time, congratulations, you’re humorless and take metal way too seriously.

You can stream the record at the band’s official website or via the Spotify player below. Enjoy!