Pyogenesis has a backstory that proves God hates us. The German group emerged as a doom/death metal band around the time Paradise Lost et al. gained traction, but then switched over to alternative rock for some godforsaken reason. Do yourself a favor: listen to "Unpop," and welcome the existential crisis it emanates. "A Century in the Curse of Time," the first Pyogenesis record in thirteen years, hits the reset button on all the artistic nonsense that had gone on within the group since it popped out the visceral "Ode to the Churning Seas of Nar-Mataru" demo in 1991. What we're dealing with here is an inconsistent, cluttered orgy of many metal/rock subgenres that results in whatever the f*** this is. It isn't a total bag of crap, shockingly, but it has its moments.The way Pyogenesis implements many influences that have no business coexisting is done far better than I could have imagined, though there are still bumps in the road. They hit a decent stride to start things off, firing out an up-tempo modern metal tune featuring bridges reminiscent of The Offspring, and it actually isn't too shabby. The next track has a cool shade of Prong taking on a feathery 90s approach, which makes this weird form of musical dissonance between the rock and metal elements. The album covers a lot of territory, welcoming immigrants of various metal and rock subgenres and making them coexist in the same melting pot. These moments, though, fail to be anything more than morbidly and unsettlingly intriguing, akin to Hugo Simpson's pigeon-rat.
Pyogenesis has the smoothest sailing on "Lifeless," which is led by a melancholic, roaring guitar lead that interweaves with alternative rock themes à la The Offspring. Things begin to tumble downwards after hitting this three-star utopia located in the middle of "A Century in the Curse of Time," however. "The Swan King" is a bouncy rock/metal number where the band's style begins to find itself disordered and bothersome, whereas "Flesh and Hair" strikes like an alt rock ballad with all of its 90s crooning and catcalling. The fourteen-minute title track happens to be a big box of sh*t, and whatever seeds of decency Pyogenesis may have planted to conquer the record's unpleasantness are washed away by its aimless plodding.
In the end, "A Century in the Curse of Time" covers a lot of ground, but most of the conquest sounds more like a random draw of influences than the talented craftsmanship of musical wizards. Moments worth noting are overshadowed by the abstract Pyogenesis nuttiness making itself tangible, though the group deserves praise for completing what should have been a total disaster. Instead, this is tepid stuff in the seas of mediocre rock/metal bands trying to get a hand out above water. Points for the smoothness of the style and the infrequent tune that isn't too shabby, but not much else worth mentioning.