Secret Cutter: Secret Cutter

I have to begin by reminding readers that this band's first EP is entitled If You Don't Hate Yourself, You're Not Paying Attention. The title alone makes one thing clear: this is music that comes from a dark, anxious place.

The new release, the band's first full-length, is self-titled but Secret Cutter isn't any brighter than If You Don't Hate Yourself. Again: this is music that comes from a dark, tragic space, the kind that understands the full range of human anguish and despair.

Names aside, what do I have to say about the music? To keep it simple, this is a truly exciting release. Saying that, however, isn't quite enough. It's better to call the songs on this album "weird," "eclectic," "unusual." I'm not sure what other bands I can compare this music to. See, the band builds their sound out of sludge and doom but quickly takes it to places where the guitar just goes nuts. And it all works beautifully. For me, things really took off with the third track: "17.5 Dead Air." There's a riff, just a few seconds in to this song, which just sold me on this whole project. It isn't exactly a groove, but it's something like it. Check it out.

The rest of the album stays on the mark, delivering an eclectic mixture of sounds and emotions that blend together effectively. If I have one complaint about the album it's that some of the musical ideas are repeated too much and that some of them are not repeated enough. Put another way, let some of the sounds take listeners outside themselves a bit more.

This is loud and anxious music, aggressive and insane. If you like music like that, check out "17.5 Dead Air" and work your way through about "End of Sylvan." This is a band worth discovering.

Track Listing:
1. Mirror Mirror
2. Deformed Eye
3. 17.5 Dead Air
4. Craving the Silence
5. Vow of Poverty
6. Shake the Malevolent
7. Midtro
8. End of Sylvan
9. Headache Ball
10. Driftwood

Added: November 20th 2014
Reviewer: Carl Sederholm
Score:
Related Link: Band Website
Hits: 1650
Language: english

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