The Secret

This records opens like a flaming fist to the face and doesn't slow down once it starts. The Secret have done the unthinkable on their fourth album, successfully intensifying a sound that already threatened to be too heavy for its own good. This is Southern Lord's evil aesthetic filtered through Kurt Ballou's Godcity studios, cramming 44 minutes of relentless aggression into a tightly woven package that menacingly combines all sides of the extreme metal coin. Whether it's the opening blasts of the title track or the dank, sludgy grooves in "Vermin of Dust," Agnus Dei only slows for a brief pause in its final track, closing a brief bit of welcomed silence with a droning wall of noise.