6/10

While new material from The Coral has been lacking over the last few years due to a number of side-projects from its members and the birth of their newly founded independent label Skeleton Key Records, they have still managed to push out some forgotten material in the form of 'The Curse Of Love'. The album was originally recorded back in 2006 but has only recently been mastered and readied for a full release, ending the band's four-year drought of new material for their fans.

It is hard to say why or what has persuaded them to release this new record now as they have already produced two albums since it's conception, but it does seem to display a different direction to what The Coral had been producing at that time. While they have always been lumped in with the generic indie movement of northern England, this new record likes to show off the band's more irreverent side and gives the listener an all-together different listening experience. It has this dark and separated quality to it that helps highlights the band's own multisided writing style and brings out their more brooding of works.

It may be more than eight years old now, but considering the shift that the British music scene has had in the past few years, you could almost say that it was ahead of its time. An apt yet wistful release from a band we thought we knew.