Source: Album Artwork
Normally I never address these reviews from a first person stand point, but sod it, I’m going to mix things up this week. (Plus these views are totally mine and probably completely against what most would say!) So my review schedule this week resulted in me receiving the new record from San Diego quartet Secrets, a band I’ve never heard of outside of the fabled Punk Goes Pop anthology.
That’s not necessarily a bad call, it’s usually pretty fun to experience new sounds from new musicians. However, opportunities to do so nowadays are becoming few and far between, with the amount of generic new age “metal” being produced that shows no sense of exclusivity or uniqueness what so ever. Everything That Got Us Here, sadly is no exception to this growing annoyance. Once again I’m listening to another run of the mill rock record thinking: “for fuck sake, I’m bored to tears” as I reluctantly consume the same old shit I’ve heard countless times over. Now I’m no metal elitist, MOSH only has room for one of those. However, this subject really pisses me off. It’s unfair to blame Rise Records for the sense of monotony, their label is home to certain bands in the alternative genre that I genuinely love, but if you’re looking to find something fresh from this record you’ll be disappointed.
Firstly, what the hell is that intro track. I’ve slammed Intro and interlude tracks countless times before, but there’s no escaping them. Now ones like Bullet For My Valentine’s ‘V’ are bearable, but this one from Secrets is a total mess. It’s a rock record, and I feel like I’m listening to a Glee CD. There’s no Hollywood clichè more fitting than: “I didn’t sign up for this”. ‘Rise Up’ is a little more promising. To start with the track brings a degree of energy and power, but it’s all over prematurely. I don’t think that secrets have got the balance between heavy and clean vocals just right to be honest. The heavy vocals overwhelm the cleans, which unfortunately make up 90% of the tracks, just look at ‘Left Behind’. ‘Learn To Love’ is probably the highlight of this record for me, it’s fast paced, has a catchy chorus and enough energy throughout to inspire a little bit of movement. It’s kind of a shame that the rest of the album isn’t as interesting.
The bottom line is that this album has no unique selling point to it. A suitable title would be Generic Post Hardcore Album No.324, and it’s just hard to really dig something that doesn’t bring anything truly special to the table. I hope that Secrets are a lot more experimental in the making of their next album, break the barriers, give us something huge.
