Record of the Week: Secretors: Comparing Missile Size Vol 1 7"

Secretors: Comparing Missile Size 7” (Roachleg Records) We last heard from New York’s Secretors on 2019’s Antidote for Civilization flexi, but after seeing them last summer at Another Lost Weekend, I knew they were coming back in a big way. Secretors did not sound like a band that had been hibernating for four years… in fact, they might have played my favorite set of that entire weekend. Comparing Missile Size illustrates why. For me, it’s a consummate New York punk record, intense and raw, but developed and thought out in a way that makes it feel like a real statement rather than just a burst of inspiration caught on tape. Secretors recordedComparing Missile Size at D4MT Labs, and like all the recordings that come from that space, it sounds murky on the surface, yet it’s rich with the detail you need when the instruments’ tones and textures are a big part of the sound. Despite playing full-bore pretty much all the time, Secretors’ music goes to a lot of different places, from brutal, Shitlickers-inspired pounding to riffier moments like “Direct Order” and the rad, Randy Uchida-esque intro riff on the title track. The vocals play a huge part too, barked in a low register a la E.N.T., but rather than locking in rhythmically with the riffs, they tend to pull against the instrumental rhythms in compelling ways, creating this tension that makes the sound feel like it’s pulling apart at the seams. The artwork and lyrics are similarly compelling, with well-considered reactions to the new horrors of 21st-century warfare. Comparing Missile Size is one of those records that grabs you right away with its explosivity, but whose depth keeps you coming back for repeated listens.