SECRET CUTTER is a three-piece band from Bethlehem, PA, who just released their debut LP, "Self Titled." I gave thought for a moment about whether that meant that the album should be referred to as "Secret Cutter" or its given name, but quickly forgot these idle ponderings the moment the band's slamming, abrasive music began its assault on my eardrums.

For those of you who enjoy a level of depth to your music, well...you're in for a surprise. SECRET CUTTER's particular brand of sonic terror cares not for your musical depth; it chews it up and spits it back at you while screaming in your face. The fuzzy, ultra-distorted guitars, combined with Jared's bludgeoning drumming and Ekim's ungodly shrieks, hit the listener like a shovel to the face, starting with the standout opener "Mirror Mirror." The jarring, visceral nature of the song, and its pummeling, groovy main riff, renders irrelevant the fact that the lyrics are all but indecipherable, as is the case throughout the album. The feedback from the guitars gives the song an unhinged quality, especially the part right around the midpoint of the track. It's basically the sound of all hell breaking loose, and does a good job of representing the band's sound in one song.

Elsewhere, "17.5 Dead Air" delivers the goods with a similarly caustic and heavy, yet controlled, approach. "Craving the Silence" comes off as a bit of a reprieve with its guitar-only opening (that sounds like it's played on a bass), but quickly dashes this prospect with its sudden onslaught of sinister, sludgy riffs. "Vow Of Poverty" is basically two riffs played for a minute and a half that just didn't seem to fit in any of the actual songs, so that one can be skipped, but the band picks things up with an attitude on the hardcore punk-like "Shake The Malevolent." Aside from the blastbeats opening the first 30 seconds of "Driftwood," the former is easily the fastest song on the record, and although there are parts where Ekim's voice approaches a frequency only audible to canines, the song is one of the most hard-hitting, well-performed offerings of the bunch.

"Self Titled" is a vicious album where noise and music collide in a cacophony of primal aggression. That is not to say that the songs are mindless or without substance, but that their sound is very direct and to the point, relying more on the combined effect of the instruments on the listener than anything else; a result that is greater than the sum of its parts (basically two instruments and a really [ticked]-off attitude). It's far from perfect, but "Self Titled" should come as a welcome addition to the collections of fans of brutal, slamming, sludgy Metal.<