'Agnus Dei' is not all which it immediately appears. This record seems very much to be the result of pent up fury all giving way to true rage in a series of indecipherable blasts of extremity. There is more to The Secret than that, however. The brevity exercised by much of this record does not make it less effective, or less brutal. In fact, the sheer velocity of the anger pouring from The Secret makes it apparent that there is more to their carnal ferocity than just a desire to provoke a sea of headbanging disciples.
'Agnus Dei' is a seething beast of a record. Relatively compact in length it may be, but in ambition the limit stretches skywards in parallel, albeit different, directions towards the likes of Converge and Neurosis. Mammoth waves of scornful sound are driven from guitars used more definably as weapons than instruments, with the overall mix being dense and claustrophobic enough to swallow whole any expectations of accessibility. These Italians know what they are after alright, that much is for sure. The headache inducing opening trio of the title track, 'May God Damn Us All' and 'Violent Infection', would drive many to quick despair on their own, but with plenty more to come 'Agnus Dei' is well on its way to invoking seizure before it even reaches the half way mark.
However, despite the group’s best efforts, and the undoubted extremity the band exhibit when on full throttle, there is just a little something missing here. 'Agnus Dei' feels ever so slightly like it is less than it should be. There is attempt made at contrast, at shade as well as pitch black darkness, but, perhaps partly because of the aforementioned density of the mix, that contrast is not really clearly defined enough to accentuate the impact of The Secret’s heaviest moments in the manner that it should. When it is more apparent, during the silence that takes up a good chunk of the thirteen minute closer 'Seven Billion Graves', it feels unnecessarily contrived. The Secret have no need to run into cliché by separating out heaviness with a bit of silence, they are too good for that. A little bit more threat in between the searing violence, on the other hand, is exactly what could transport 'Agnus Dei' to the next level.
As a result, this album is maybe not quite as strong as it both initially seems to be and as it perhaps should be. Nevertheless it is a strong statement of intent from The Secret, who appear to have all the tools and know-how to produce something spectacularly horrible in the near future. Until then, this should still ruffle plenty of feathers, and, at the very least, prove that Italian metallers can do more than just cheesy power metal bombast when they put their mind to it.
'Agnus Dei' is out on Monday 5th November via Southern Lord.
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'Agnus Dei' is a seething beast of a record. Relatively compact in length it may be, but in ambition the limit stretches skywards in parallel, albeit different, directions towards the likes of Converge and Neurosis. Mammoth waves of scornful sound are driven from guitars used more definably as weapons than instruments, with the overall mix being dense and claustrophobic enough to swallow whole any expectations of accessibility. These Italians know what they are after alright, that much is for sure. The headache inducing opening trio of the title track, 'May God Damn Us All' and 'Violent Infection', would drive many to quick despair on their own, but with plenty more to come 'Agnus Dei' is well on its way to invoking seizure before it even reaches the half way mark.
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