The Secret

The title of the Secret's latest release is Latin for "lamb of God." Fortunately, any similarities between the Secret's latest and that Lamb of God end there. It's also, predictably, not a tribute to Jesus Christ. However, as messiahs do, the Secret have delivered Agnus Dei as a liberation from less inspired music. "Unrelenting" is a term thrown around all too frequently to describe music that's temporarily ruthless, before going back on the descriptor's very definition and waning in power. The Secret, on the other hand, refuse to relent in their blackened crust assault and the resulting flow of sonic venom is all the more potent for it. Even brief dips in tempo fill the void with copious amounts of feedback and atmosphere-building, melodic, yet creepy riffs. With the Mayan-predicted impending end of the world, and the resulting hyperbole about which band will be the soundtrack to its demise, the Secret have proven the apocalypse itself a hoax. If the world can survive an album this destructive, it can certainly survive the end of an ancient calendar.