Funeral Rain Press Corps

Southern Lord is proud to announce the newest members of its coven, brutal Italian group THE SECRET.

In a statement by Southern Lord this week, label owner Greg Anderson stated: “These days it’s extremely rare that we receive a demo submission that blows us away. This was the case with the demo THE SECRET had sent us. Their sound is relentless, uncompromising and extremely lethal. Anti-melody, pro-cacophony!”

Born and shaped in 2003 within the motionless city of Trieste, Italy, THE SECRET come to life as an output for rage, darkness and negativity, combining elements of crust/grind, primitive black metal, dark soundscapes and monolithic riffs that take the listener by the hand through a hallucinated trip towards a foggy and yet invisible tomorrow. After their 2003 Goodfellow Records debut album Luce, the band went through countless lineup changes before finding a new incarnation in 2008 when their second full-length Disintoxication was released. Since then the Goodfellow label has unfortunately ceased to exist, and THE SECRET have now found shelter within Southern Lord’s bleak caves.

This April THE SECRET will enter Godcity Studio in Salem, MA with producer Kurt Ballou to record their Southern Lord debut Solve et Coagula, their sonic interpretation of a total loss of faith in social system, religion, personal redemption and every institution.

You are forewarned of an approaching monolithic steamroller whose destiny is to flatten all in its path!

The Secret on MySpace.

Genres: Black Metal, Crust, Thrash
Label: Abstract Terror Records

Opening with an instrumental, then going headlong into a thrashy black metal track, Anicest threw me off guard.
And even then, in the second track, my guard kept getting tossed. Blues was being thrown into the mix!
A G.G. Allin cover (“My Sadistic Killing Spree”) and a Scared Straight cover (“Typical”) follow, both well done, and given a nice blackened shine that’s not there in the originals.
The thrash returns, still keeping the punk attitude from the covers, culminated in a doom flavored final track that drips with blackened hate.
All in all, Anicest’s VI: The Origin of Terror gets a 7 out of 10.
It’s messy blackened thrash with a punk attitude, the likes of which fans of Municipal Waste and their brand of newer thrash should like.

Anicest on MySpace.

Genres: Black Metal, Crust, Thrash
Label: Abstract Terror Records

Messy blackened thrash seems to be the Modus Operandi on Anicest’s fifth outing. Punk elements abound, and the playing is nicely done.
Ultimately, since I actually listened to the sixth demo first, this stuff reminds me of it, but it should be the other way around.
Either way, Machette has been paying attention to his elders, and listening well to thier lessons. Everything is here, if you want to hear it. Metallica from ’86, Darkthrone from ’93, and a dash of early 80′s Amebix.
Fans of more blackened metals should like this disc a little more than the newer one, but I still give it a 7 out of 10, with standouts being “Barbituates” and “Percieving My Seed Now Past To You”.

Anicest on MySpace.