Sect - No Cure for Death

The Guardian 60

(Southern Lord Recordings)

Formed by veterans of bands such as Cursed, Racetraitor and Catharsis, Sect are something of a supergroup in hardcore circles, and their second album delivers accordingly. Guitars rage and howl like packs of hungry wolves. Blast beats explode like military hardware. It borders on thrash metal at times – a 17-minute, 10-song, short, sharp shock of fury at the state of the planet, kicked off by a song called Open Grave. Singer Chris Colohan’s guttural words are hard to decipher, but lines such as “You built whole worlds on the back of the dead” and “Orwellian police states” leap from the blitzkrieg. Born Razed is a 45-second blast, but they’re arguably most effective on Day and Night and Avoidance Ritual, when they drop the pace for a more a controlled, considered roar. Perhaps angry times demand such angry music, although it’s not for the faint-hearted.