Nefarious is one of those albums that just sounds special right from the very off, which is a pleasant surprise! Having given it a good while to soak in, and letting every nuance and punctuation fall into place, jigsaw-like, I realised I really should find out more about this Swedish 4-piece, who not only released two other albums before this, but also have former members of Therion, Soilwork and Mörk Gryning amongst their ranks.
However, don’t let the band members former works give you an inkling of what Sectu may sound like (to be honest, you’d be hard pushed given the variety of styles played in the ones named above!), because Sectu play a downtuned, twisted style of death metal which crushes and destroys, whilst still retaining bags of melody without being saccharine coated or causing cavities in your teeth. I picked up on a lot of influences in their sound, but the ones which really taste the strongest are latter-day Gorguts vibe (with the twisted, strangulated riffage sounding like a mechanical beast on a rampage through a guitar factory), with the growled, guttural blast furnace vocals just adding to the extremity, as well as the overpowering Cryptopsy inspired blasting, and crazy technical runs which hold the barely control chaos in check with overwhelming precision. As mentioned, there is a good amount of melodiousness to be found in their sound, with powerful melodic runs taking on an almost progressive feel at times, always striking with fierce intent rather than noodling unnecessarily, or meandering around for too long. Their seething riffs weave serpentine spells, revealing a bevvy of constantly shifting shards of misshapen riffage, all sliding and connecting in clockwork-like harmony.
I must say, that this album really struck me with its dark vibe, the sort of dark vibe which Nile regularly create and thrive in. A creeping eerie aura which hangs over the music, making even the most simplistic of musical refrains shudder with a real feeling of ancient dread and unease. So, just think. If they can do that with the simple riffs, imagine what they do with their more outlandish and progressive material. This is utterly brilliant.
(8.5/10 Lars Christiansen)
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