Secret Cutter - Self Titled

Written by Matt Hinch.


Trying to put a label on Secret Cutter is an exercise in futility, and also a bit unnecessary. All I know is, I have a split in my forehead and a concussion (permanent brain damage?) from all the banging of my head against the table. Plus there's a limp body on the floor that I filled with haymakers when they asked if I was okay. I tell ya, it's a blessing and a curse that I write with a pen and paper. A blessing in that I didn't break a computer with my face, a curse in that the body on the floor is also full of pen stab wounds. Of course I'm being figurative but if a badly beaten body shows up at the morgue looking like someone went all Joe Pesci on his ass, I am so fucked.

I'm pretty fucked anyway from the violating violence Secret Cutter lay down on this self-titled assault. Their brand of blitzing grind, planet smashing doom/sludge and angular noisy weirdness is shot through with corrosive, lysergic hardcore vocals and enough hatred (real or feigned) to keep the entire psychology profession employed in perpetuity.

This shit is heavy as fuck. There's no other way to put it. Monumental, noise ridden riffs reign unholy terror down upon you like a ten ton hammer wielded by a mentally unstable Thor whacked on methamphetamines. Right from the onset (“Mirror, Mirror”) this Philly crew reduces bones to dust and cities to rubble with a vicious stomp. There's a sense of glee behind the devastation though as those noisy little notes thrown in sound like a twisted grin below crazy eyes. Using feedback as a weapon they bloody their guitars on riff after riff of left-of-centre doom/sludge.

Looking over my notes I can see lots of “oh my god” and “holy fuck”s. Most of them are centered around the album's mid-section with “Vow of Poverty” and “Shake the Malevolent”. The former obliterates with extreme prejudice via a propulsive sequence. It hammers away at the chest like a series of concussion grenades fired from a semi-automatic canon. The latter features some of the most jaw-dropping picking I've heard in a long time. So fast, so much energy and wildness. I didn't even know a guitar could do that.

More powerful sludge, stomp-to-a-bloody-pulp riffs and stunning feedback hang out with flattening grind until closing track “Driftwood”. It starts and it's all like “What the hell? Is Les Claypool snorting coke over here?” Then “FUCK NO, MOTHERFUCKER!! GRRRRIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIND!!!!!!!!!” and a continued castigation of ungodly tone and fractured chords.

From beginning to end this album wears its physicality on its sleeve. It's uncompromisingly heavy, gleefully spastic, vocally terrifying (amazing stress therapy when screaming along) and surprisingly catchy. Define it as you will but one thing is for certain, Secret Cutter make it a point to make you feel small and insignificant. And goddamn do I feel like an ant right now.

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Gotta love the Greeks

By Kevin Page. We start in Thessaloniki, home to Kult of Taurus, a black metal band with one full length album under their belt (Divination Labyrinths, released in 2013). Formed in 2007, they released a demo, EP and split before finally releasing their debut late last year.

By Kevin Page.


We start in Thessaloniki, home to Kult of Taurus, a black metal band with one full length album under their belt (Divination Labyrinths, released in 2013). Formed in 2007, they released a demo, EP and split before finally releasing their debut late last year. Vicotnik of Dodheimsgard mixed and mastered this album (if that sorta thing gets you all wet and giggly). But what works me up is the quality of the music. It's black metal no doubt, but it deviates enough from the standard formula to keep me interested. The guitar has almost a punchy jazz tone to it. They leave space in their sound, which gives everything room to breathe. And unlike another band we will talk about later, this isn't a huge time commitment on your part, as this blows by in slightly over 30 minutes.

[Go to the post to view the Bandcamp player]

Our next stop is in Athens (where we shall stay for the remainder of this post) to check out Lunatic Medlar. Featuring Nick (bassist of Universe 217) on bass here as well, their debut album Finely Tuned Machine was self released last year. This is a FREE DOWNLOAD of sludgey progressive doomy post rock with vocals reminiscent of Crowbar. I did mention this was a FREE DOWNLOAD right? Simply no reason for you not to check them out.

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I normally roll my eyes and don't think much when I'm told to check out yet another one man black metal band. But Spectral Lore came highly recommended from people who's opinions I respected. III is actually the band's fourth full length album released (and my introduction to them). This is going to take a time commitment on your part, running at 87 minutes in length. Even after 4 full spins I don't feel I've fully grasped the extent of what Ayloss is doing, but I know enough to recommend you check it out.. Progressive ambient black metal is the general style here, but it has a little bit of everything: traditional black metal, acoustic guitar & serene passages that make you feel like you are in a planetarium. It would be an understatement to say this is not what I usually listen to, but after each spin I seemingly want to come back for more. Also, the 2CD version from I, Voidhanger Records has some pretty nifty packaging and exceptional artwork.

[Go to the post to view the Bandcamp player]

I guess when you are the cradle of Western civilization you are gonna churn out some quality metal bands. So let's finish this off with Dead Congregation, who needs no introduction. It's been 6 years since they released an album, so you are surely going to see this pop up on many year end lists. Promulgation of the Fall (released by Martyrdoom Productions) is straight to the point, no bullshit, no frills death metal. What they truly excel in is their ability to not overstay their welcome or sound like they are trying too hard. Dead Congregation are not playing anything that you haven't really heard before, but they play it so well and convincingly, its hard not to appreciate. And unlike the plethora of bands that go with the old sinister evil tone, they stay away from the overly reverbed wall of noise too many get caught up in.

[Go to the post to view the Bandcamp player]

As much as I would have loved to include the new albums by Aenaon & Hail Spirit Noir in this post, Code666 Records doesn't have them up on their Bandcamp. So you'll have to track those down yourself (and I highly recommend, no, IMPLORE YOU, to do so). But on a more positive note, that allowed me to talk about some other great bands. [Note: Both albums are now available on Bandcamp, and Kevin wrote about them here.]

Sunwølf - Beholden To Nothing And No One

Written by Majbritt Levinsen.


Sunwølf is a new favourite band of mine and I would probably have missed out of their brilliant and versatile Beholden To Nothing And No One if Matt from Sunwølf hadn't contacted me and asked me to listen to them. As I’m sitting here writing these words I am listening to their first two albums Beyond the Sun from 2012 and Midnight Moon from 2013 which both offers really enjoyable instrumental ambient post-rock/drone recordings with a combination of a nice relaxing warmth and grand emotionless space. Midnight Moon has some stoner rock influences, which I like, who doesn’t like fat vibrating guitars? Well enough about the old stuff! Onwards to 2014 and a completely different chapter for Sunwølf.

Beholden To Nothing And No One is a very diverse double album. Disc one holds some great atmospheric, drone, stoner/sludge, post-rock and doom-ish tracks that are more raw but also more ethereal than their previous releases. Disc two holds absolutely wonderful ambient drone/shoe-gaze compositions that will mesmerise you. One major thing that differentiates this release from their previous releases is the addition of vocal on some of the tracks and of course the many guest appearances!

I have written about each and every track on my personal blog but will refrain from it here, even though each track has their own highlights I’ll give you the opportunity to go on your own journey and discover this double album by yourself and hopefully you’ll get your own visions while doing so. You might get the same chills I got when listening to the opening track "In the Darkened River I Found the Silence Loom". The delicate vocal of Tiffany Ström (from Myyths and Fvnerals) accompanied by Alex Hannan (Band of Hope Union) on violin, elevates the song to a dreamlike realm where time stops.

After a delicate ethereal and melancholic start, more bleak, nihilistic, post-apocalyptic compositions takes over with a rawer, more slow-grinding drone/doom/sludge/stoner pace. The tracks "Vultures Crown" and "The Wake Of Leviathan" offers gritty, screeching, noisy guitars, a raw vocal delivered by Ben Corkhill (the abominable cave goblin from Bongcauldron), pounding drums and a bass thick as mud. Another guest vocalist, Phillip Flock‘s (Aleph Null), can be found on the next track: "Thrown Into A Nameless Time".

The title track "Beholden To Nothing And No One" is as beautiful as it is drained from all kinds of warmth. Desolate, vast, barren, ethereal, emotional and chilling. "Heathens Rest" continues on the same path – slowly dragging itself forward to close off this nihilistic journey in a pace that makes you feel like life itself has been drained from your body and death slowly lulls you into its eternal sleep. It’s calm, bleak and beautiful. Guest performers on this track are Tiffany Ström on vocals and Sarah Tyler on Saxophone.

Disc two takes you on an ambient drone ride, that will take you places far away to bleak post-apocalyptic sceneries. "Ithaca" and "Symptoms Of Death" offers a sleepy jazzy feeling much due to the trumpet, played by John Scully. I have to say that I have grown quite fond of this track, much to my own surprise.

I've come across many tracks in my life I wished were longer and Sunwølf manages to get such a track on Beholden To Nothing And No One. "Lotus Island" being 5 minutes long, could have been longer, but sadly isn't. It is a droning spiritual voyage where the vibrating, humming calm of the instruments and Dominic Deane‘s chanting vocal automatically engulfs you and slows time down.

Beholden To Nothing And No One is a great trip to far away corners of a musical landscape, that is both beautifully ethereal, nihilistic bleak, deeply melancholic and at times claustrophobic unsettling, hard and raw. As opposed to their older releases I find this more experimental and offers more to discover for the listener. Enjoy!

[Go to the post to view the Bandcamp player]