I’m always reticent to use the word ‘supergroup’ to describe bands like Sect, but if there were ever a band fit for the term, Sect would be it. A vegan straight edge metallic hardcore band featuring Chris Colohan of Cursed and Burning Love, James Chang of Undying, Steve Hart from Day of Suffering, Scott Crouse of vegan straight edge legends Earth Crisis and Andy Hurley of Fall Out Boy (yes, seriously, though his credentials check out considering his stints as drummer for several hardcore bands, including Earth Crisis).
Plagues Upon Plagues is the band’s first release in 5 years, and their fourth overall. There’s also, if you ask me, a strong case to be made that it’s their best. Opener ‘No Uncertain Terms’ opens on a foreboding lull, with the rhythm section dredging up tension as Colohan whispers nihilistic musings. The heaviness crashes in after the declaration “The structure is rotted, rotted through and through”, following up with “There’s just the tailspin left now. Just this frantic, panicked clawing like dogs at anything that isn’t nailed down.” To soundtrack this doom-laden manifesto of an opener is a rabid, crushing barrage of iron-clad guitars and cacophonous percussive force. When the guitars fall away later, a corrosive, caustic bass tone is unearthed amid the rubble. The track is a fitting opening statement for the album, showcasing every element of the record and setting up a narrative focus on the wasteland that awaits a failure to act on the systemic rot of society. The track’s final minute and a half is a venomous campaign of destruction that rises into an anthemic climax, ending on an ominous question; “What’s left to save?”
‘New Low’ is one of the catchiest tracks on the album. Focusing on depression, the track is a stomping juggernaut, making quick work of its 3 minutes. The chants of ‘New low, new low, so low”, accentuated by the shifting riff below have been etched in my head since I first heard it, along with the lyric “this isn’t working for me/because surviving ain’t the prize it used to be.” Following is the chaotic blast of ‘Drowning In Sorrows’, with its dissonant riff and frenetic drums, as well as a chugging riff in its closing half that more than earns a stank face from any listener.
‘Zerzan Wept’ is one of my standout tracks. The doomy riff that opens and precedes a riff in perfect two-step rhythm, the middle section that is more melodic, carried by the through-line of the bass, the anthemic guitars that ascend from the ashes and the final gasp of heaviness at the end come together to show off all the band’s strong suits. The lyrics are no exception, with a look towards the healing of nature beyond humanity. “There were problems/but now they’re sorting themselves… it won’t be too much longer now before the tall grass grows over all/it’s not the end, it’s the real start.” It might be the most optimistic the record gets, if you ignore the fact that this healing obviously comes without us “The vast, it owes you nothing/and a stillness, it is coming.”
In a phenomenal one-two punch, ‘#ForeverHome’ comes next, focusing on animals being used as fashion accessories and products rather than being treated as living beings. Dirge-like in execution, the song meanders through its first two minutes before smashing through the glass and brutalising your eardrums with cataclysmic force. When all but the vocals and drums drop out, the spite in Colohan’s vocals is even more evident. The lyrics excavate the root of this pure rage, addressing those who objectify animals “[I’ve] got a forever home in mind for all the ‘saviours’ and all their kind/and I don’t even believe in hell, but for you… so who’s the garbage to be discarded? So who’s the beast to be put down?”
Highlights are rife on this record. The chaotic intro to ‘Inventory’, the formidable riff of ‘Six Black Lines’ the grinding blasts that appear on ‘The Lovers of Life’ high amongst them. I really, really like this record. Metallic hardcore has been producing some of my favourite records in recent years (including from fellow “supergroup” END) and Plagues Upon Plagues is no exception. I’ve always liked Sect, I’ve just never loved them. Until now. I love this album. The album is bleak, near funerial in its lyrical approach, feeling as if pickled in the briny dregs of the world’s ever-compounding issues. The mixing by Converge’s Kurt Ballou grants the album the urgency and rawness it requires. I cannot recommend Plagues Upon Plagues enough. Go listen to it. Now. It can’t – and won’t – wait.
Sect: Plagues Upon Plagues – Out 7th June 2024 (Southern Lord)
