Sectu – Nefarious
Bare with us, because this may be the worst logo ever created and you know we like to gossip. Think we’re exaggerating for flavor? No, trust us, we’ve seen some bad ones. But this one isn’t bad because it’s illegible, no, it’s bad because it should be totally legible, but ironically it isn’t. What is that? Seotz? Cool name. No? Oh, then it must be Sectz? No? What is it, then? Sectu? What the hell, totally not seeing that, guys, come on now. Fix that thing at the end there, maybe a little more space in that ‘C’ too. Anyway, we’re pretty sure Sweden should be like the metal capital of the world, because anything we’ve received that originates from there, any genre, has always been pleasurable. Sinful, even. Enough for a divorce, even. ViciSolum is a smaller label with a focus on Scandinavian bands, a commendable idea, and they tossed this one our way not so long ago, and we’ve finally caught up with it. Sectu, now, apparently they have some clout, based simply on their Facebook numbers and their generally praise-slathered reviews via various sites are more proof of power in numbers. We like numbers, they make us feel like we have a grasp of statistics. So, statistically speaking, for an underground band of this caliber, they’re clearly doing something right. Sectu started roughly in 2005 as Cimmerian Dome, eventually changing their name in 2011. Technical death metal has been around awhile, but to really make it shine you need power over chaos, and a sense of the dissonant. You need to be Sectu, in other words.
Thankfully these guys possess the power we seek, because the artwork really doesn’t. It’s almost uncertain of itself, self-conscious. It’s the girl who shops at Deb but is in a town where everyone shops at Anthropologie. Yes, that’s correct, we did just do that. Skeletons are always a cool image, but this one almost seems like it’s shy, hiding there in the fog. But this album is most certainly not hiding itself away. Once you put Nefarious into whatever you use and it groans through the speakers, everything around crumbles. Sectu have excellent command of their approach. The guitars rotate and disperse all over the place with wild sweeps, broken only by their chaotic, jarring chord work. Some of the heavy chunks these guys dish out completely break the usual flow associated with technical death metal, and it’s a wonderful form of unsettlement. Think of it as something like Ulcerate, but good. Oh yes, we did just do that, too.
Nefarious offers several excellent tracks in the mix, not one really serving as filler, though there are some much better than others. “Perpetual Spectre”, for example, has disgusting chords that come out of nowhere, slowing everything down to the level of blood poisoning. But, not satisfied with mere breaks in tempo, Sectu uses the momentum to burst into hurricanes of solos and riffs without an ounce of shabbiness, unlike that poor guy on the cover. Check out “River of Oblivion” for some more “take me now, my virginity is yours” fandom. Sectu have an awesome thing going on here, a true sampling of technical death metal well worth the listen. The only real complaint is it can be a bit too dense for its own good. It never gets to the level of being inaccessible, but sometimes it almost feels more complex than it needs to be, though this may be largely due to some songs having more of a natural draw than others, simply by virtue of how they were written. Not a perfect release, but Nefarious is a damn fine release nonetheless. Most of the death metal we receive is so similar to everything else the only difference is, well, nothing. Not here, lots of goodies to find.
Written by Stanley Stepanic
Sectu – Nefarious
ViciSolum Productions
4 / 5
