Secret Cutter : "/// "

This cult sludge band is back with more angry battering. The aggressive guitar hits you with a very deliberate wall of overdrive. For a three-piece, they always bring an intense density. This album upholds that tradition. I have always stuck to the fact that sludge is what happens when punks try to play doom. There is more anger than melancholy. These guys are obviously punks of the ore hard-core variety. The drummer is the one who seeks to push things more in that direction. The blunt force trauma they seek to inflict becomes more of a formula when the throb of the second song is not unlike that of the first. Then they break from this to prove by punk point with "Humanoid". There are grind-core tendencies with indications that they took notes from Eyehategod growing up. 

There is more groove to "Destined to Fail". The vocals can be a bit one-dimensional, but they work as an accent on this one. To their credit, they are more of a shriek and less of your typical gruff howling.  "Feeding the Gods" is another heavy grooving song that will win over fans of sludge with its seething intensity. "Charging Bull" is an adequate description of the assault that follows. It blasted with a grind-core frenzy, though it does lock into a half-time riff in a few places that works. With bands like this, it is impressive they cram so much into two minutes. "Siren Song" follows a similar blasting path. 

They allow for a more deliberate setting of the mood going into "Ghosts of Our Youth". Though the song really just hangs on to the one theme. They end with more blasting chaos. I can appreciate what they are going for here, but in terms of songwriting, it could be more dynamic as it feels like there is a lack of melody and it's all gnashing of teeth. I will give this album an 8 as it's not something I would listen to since when I am in the mood for this sort of thing would go for Full of Hell, but the band's fan base should be pleased which is why I am scoring it so high given the factors stated in this review, though it also falls in line with the score I gave them for the last album we reviewed by these guys, so they are consistent. 

 

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