These Italian crust/grind/black metal bastards have really pushed the intense as fuck boat out, way out, on their 2nd album for Southern Lord, probably one of the first big underground labels to really embrace the insane crust/black/metal crossover. It’s silly to think that the two styles have no connection, both are vicious, dark and demand a certain degree of disdain for conventional “rock” or “heavy” sound, in any case, there was never any doubt that the likes of Dark Throne were into punk and crust, it’s just taken them some time to admit it.
Anyway, The Secret play an incredibly pissed off version of this combination of uncompromising styles, it’s even more pissed off than Trap Them, and they are fucking angry. There were never going to be any ballads here, or anything but spiteful, horrid noise, which is good, as you’d need more than just the bands rather dull name to entice you into the maelstrom. Thankfully the cover does have skulls on it so the risk is minimal.
This really is a blur of Converge (not the changing time signatures, mathcore stuff, the straight out attack stuff they do so effectively)/Trap Them/Anaal Nathrakh/d/blast beat mayhem and the nihilistic vehemence of a thousand black metal albums all contorted into blistering album.
Seriously, if you like your crust and BM fierce and bloody, this is the album you need to buy. This is totally fucking necro.
(9 /10 Alex Boniwell)
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