Photo by David Robinson

I need to get the hell out of where I am right now. Mentally and physically. There are people with far greater problems, but the past month has been an emotional toll, and the only thing that’s going to give any relief is to get away from all of this, go somewhere else, and forget about everything else for an extended period of time. Make no mistake: There is great benefit to just getting the fuck out.

Not sure if that was the same train of thought barreling through the heads of Italian metallic beast The Secret, but following actions that proceeded their 2012 album “Agnus Dei,” the members of the band didn’t even speak to each other for three years. That’s a pretty extreme step for cleaning the palette and getting life, and in their case, their art, refocused. They’ve returned with a stunning, damaging new EP “Lux Tenebris” that keeps intact their blackened hardcore sound and injects it with more atmosphere, texture, and outright violence. This is a scarier, stormier situation now, and the band—Marco Cosmovich, guitarist/synth player Michael Bertoldini, bassist Lorenzo Gulminelli, and drummer Tommaso Corte—spend just 20 minutes exposing their new nightmarish vision that breathes new life into the Secret.

“Vertigo” starts the record with swirling noises and the guitars cutting into the belly of the song. The bulk of this thing is smothered with noise and interference, as the riffs swirls, and black chaos roils underneath the belly of the monster. The growls are buried in the muck, as darkness continues to envelop, the song buckles, and everything bleeds into “The Sorrowful Void,” where the storm wells up dangerously. The track then rips apart, thundering and coming for blood, as the growls are more pronounced and terrifying, and the fires keep raging harder. Filthy riffs smear soot, while the growls chew into bone, and black metal-style melodies cascade. “Cuppio Dissolvi” is your 7:12-long closer that begins viciously and brings with it a hellish assault. The pace is jackhammering, while sinister guitar work bleeds all over, and disorienting playing unleashes tricks that fry your mind. The band continues to deliver mesmerizing violence, with the music stinging the flesh before mercifully fading away.

Stepping away from something isn’t always easy, but the Secret found that detachment is the best way to continue their volcanic campaign, which increases with intensity on “Lux Tenebris.” The band remains as punishing and uncompromising as ever, but with an apocalyptic shadow that promises destruction is behind it. These three songs provide just a glimpse into the Secret’s redesigned blackness, making the future seem awfully foreboding.

For more on the band, go here: https://www.facebook.com/the.secret.lux.tenebris/

To buy the album, go here: https://southernlord.com/store/

For more on the label, go here: https://southernlord.com/