secret cutter
Secret Cutter by Tim Wynarczuk

Secret Cutter Skid Towards "Oblivion"

Secret Cutter by Tim Wynarczuk
Secret Cutter by Tim Wynarczuk

There are many ways to customize a motorcycle. The exaggerated choppers made infamous by Paul Sr. and crew, for example, were slathered in garish candy paint, drenched in chrome, and shipped with a healthy serving of anxiety over the slightest fleck of mud. If such a bike were to represent a metal band, perhaps they’d be the Dragonforce of motorcycles. They’re styled to the extreme, polished to a mirror sheen with everything dialed up to 11.

At the other end of the spectrum, consider your rattiest bobber. Everything that’s not caked in rust is more likely than not stripped of paint, the muted gunmetal diffusing the light across its assuredly dented façade. There’s nary an ounce of chrome in sight, the engine’s scream harsh and unfiltered through the straight, truncated pipes, with all superfluous components long since torn off and discarded. A closer examination, however, reveals a skilled artist’s hand at work. The components of the build work together to create an undeniable charm that persists through the dirt and grime. This isn’t a bike for the showroom — this is a bike for sheer thrills.

Pennsylvania trio Secret Cutter are one such band. Their music is a seamless amalgam of sludge and grind, less a pastiche and much more a soupy, syrupy, homogenous ooze, at all times raw and abrasive. In anticipation of the group’s upcoming record Quantum Eraser, the second in their career, peep the album’s pulverizing closer “Oblivion” with our exclusive premiere.

A clatter of high hats and a few errant strums are quickly dispersed by the initial crushing chords of the aptly named “Oblivion”. As the only song on the album exceeding four minutes in length, it is a behemoth compared to all that precedes it. “It is the last and heaviest song on the record,” Secret Cutter said in a statement provided to Invisible Oranges. “Musically, the song was written as a funeral march. The song addresses taking the wrong path ‘til the end, caused by self-delusion and trusting the wrong people.”

Vocalist Ekim dashes madly back and forth across his range, slicing through his crusty growls with piercing shrieks and barks. The music’s weight is doubly remarkable considering the group lacks a bassist—whatever guitarist Evan Morey is doing with his tone is paying off in spades. On Quantum Eraser, Secret Cutter sound absolutely massive as they buffet the listener with equal parts thunderous sludge and deranged grind.

Secret Cutter are releasing Quantum Eraser on July 6th on vinyl with Deathwish Inc. in North America and Holy Roar Records for the rest of the world. The album can also be pre-ordered digitally via Bandcamp and iTunes.

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