Dirty priest: If extreme metal with a little bit of melody and rock swagger is your thing, Cura Cochino serves to both ridicule and tease the aural senses.
Metalheads in the downtown Sacramento scene already know the group’s guitarist and backup screamer Kenny Hoffman from hosting countless shows under Buried In Hell. There’s also the lead vocalist who simply goes by “Priscila in Hell,” guitarist Jim Willig, drummer Andy Laughlin and bassist Biaggio D’Anna, who also plays in Modern Man.
And while playing the upstairs of the Starlite Lounge during peak summer temperatures on a Thursday night may have seemed like a bad idea in hindsight, Cura Cochino’s onstage vibe couldn’t have been better. Wearing a black dress and high, risque boots, Priscila often stood with her back to the audience while concurrently screaming and antagonizing the crowd. Though it opened for two very accomplished acts, Atriarch and Sabbath Assembly, Cura Cochino never toned it down to appease the squeamish—or those without earplugs.
The macabre quintet just released a great three-song album, La Diseccion, which loosely sounds like a haunted Spanish-speaking woman fronting a doom metal choir for the eternally damned.
After a lengthy absence to regroup and tighten up some loose strings, La Diseccion proves yet again Cura Cochino is one of Sacramento’s heavier musical treasures. As evidenced on studio-recorded versions of “El Apocalipsis” and “Funebre Amor,” death’s recurring theme is all in good fun and even more in bad taste.
(SN&R)