Curse These Metal Hands: A Uniting of Two British Metal Juggernauts

Both CONJURER and PIJN stand as two of the most exciting bands within British metal today. CONJUER‘s Mire and PIJN‘s Loss, both released last year, are excellent on their own merits. Put the two British juggernauts together and it’s a mouth-watering picture. Enter Curse These Metal Hands; a collaborative effort between the two and the result is stunning.

In a tale of the most unlikely circumstances, Curse These Metal Hands‘ origins can be traced back to ArcTanGent last year. That particular festival is celebrated for its diversity and forward-thinking nature, and CONJURER‘s Brady Deeprose gives an insight into how the project came to life. “So at ArcTanGent Festival last year, they got in touch. They had been speaking to Holy Roar Records, Big Scary Monsters and a few other labels and they wanted a day or a stage with at least a few collaborations. In the same way that Roadburn does” he says. “We were like “cracking, we’ll do it” and of the 15 that were planned, only two made it to the festival. There was ours and another one, which I didn’t see because our sets were clashing! But yeah, it went really well and we decided to commit it to a record.”

Collaborations can be a tricky thing to achieve in a live setting sure, but committing it to a recording is a whole new challenge in itself. You don’t want the recording to sound like band A then band B, it has to be something organic, something that flows. This is something Brady knows all too well, as he explains. “We we really conscious of the fact that we didn’t want it to sound like “here’s the PIJN bit, here’s the CONJURER bit”, we wanted to do something new. The first track, High Spirits, Dan had a lot of it written and no one really knew what we could use it for, it was never going to work with CONJURER. So we brought it to the collaboration and it kind of took it forwards.”

High Spirits, the first song released from the collaboration, gave a huge indicator into just what Curse These Metal Hands is about. An uplifting number, the track indeed would not feel at home on either a CONJURER or PIJN record, but here, it feels right at home. In fact, the entirety of the record, albeit heavy in places, is a wholesome and uplifting listen. This is intentional as Brady reveals. “The friendship we have with PIJN is a mixture of wholesome and complete banter. That environment, being in the studio and the practice room, it didn’t lend itself to making horrible music. Joe from PIJN especially was so fucking fed up of his band at that point, he didn’t want to do anything like that. So when we started bringing in all these major riffs, it uplifted us. It felt like the right thing to do. There’s a couple of heavier bits, more obtuse and angrier moments, but for the most part it is really upbeat. I don’t know if anyone is going to notice it, but there’s a melody line that’s ripped off from PARAMORE in there as well. It’s a lot of fun.”

Whether Curse These Metal Hands will continue beyond this album remains to be seen, but what we have here is two of the brightest lights in British metal today joining forces for a glorious listen. And those with an eye for the TV cult sitcom Peep Show will smirk at its title. “There’s actually a Peep Show sample in there” Brady says, confirming of the intentional Peep Show reference. “I think it’s Mark saying something really depressing.”

Where did the origins for Curse These Metal Hands come from?

Brady: So at ArcTanGent Festival last year got in touch. They had been speaking to Holy Roar Records, Big Scary Monsters and a few other labels and they wanted a day or a stage with at least a few collaborations. In the same way that Roadburn does. We were like “cracking, we’ll do it” and of the 15 that were planned, only two made it to the festival. There was ours and another one, which I didn’t see because our sets were clashing! But yeah, it went really well and we decided to commit it to a record. We we really conscious of the fact that we didn’t want it to sound like “here’s the PIJN bit, here’s the CONJURER bit”, we wanted to do something new. The first track, High Spirits, Dan had a lot of it written and no one really knew what we could use it for, it was never going to work with CONJURER. So we brought it to the collaboration and it kind of took it forwards.

I’ve listened to it and it is uplifting rather than crushing. Was that something you always wanted to do with this?

Brady: The friendship we have with PIJN is a mixture of wholesome and complete banter. That environment, being in the studio and the practice room, it didn’t lend itself to making horrible music. Joe from PIJN especially was so fucking fed up of his band at that point, he didn’t want to do anything like that. So when we started bringing in all these major riffs, it uplifted us. It felt like the right thing to do. There’s a couple of heavier bits, more obtuse and angrier moments, but for the most part it is really upbeat. I don’t know if anyone is going to notice it, but there’s a melody line that’s ripped off from PARAMORE in there as well. It’s a lot of fun.

I have to ask, but is it named after a Peep Show quote?

Brady: Absolutely. There’s actually a Peep Show sample in there. I think it’s Mark saying something really depressing.

Curse These Metal Hands is set for release August 16th via Holy Roar Records. 

Like PIJN on Facebook. 

Like CONJURER on Facebook.