1. Can you tell us a little bit about the band for those that have never heard of you before?
*We started the band in 2003 in Trieste, Italy. Marco, our singer, and I are the only founding members left. We changed drummers and bass players a million times, and now the band consists of Marco Coslovich (vocals), Enrico Uliana (bass guitar), Tommaso Corte (drums), and me, Michael Bertoldini (guitar).
We previously released two albums on the Canadian label Goodfellow Records, and our Southern Lord debut "Solve et Coagula" came out last week.
2. How would you describe your musical sound?
*I grew up listening to a lot of early 90's black metal and then started to go to punk and hardcore shows when I was 16. I also like a lot of Scandinavian grindcore, d-beat, crust bands so both metal and hardcore has influenced our sound. We're trying to be loud, raw, fast and aggressive and keeping some dark atmosphere in it.
3. What are some of the lyrical topics that you have written about before on past releases, and what did you write about on the new album?
*The lyrics on the album are a reflection and reaction to what our nation and our world are moving towards.
The main concept driving the album is the total loss of faith towards politics, religion and media. We are definitely a band with punk/hardcore roots and this time we decided to speak about the decline of everything that surrounds us while past albums have been more concerned with our personal relations with society.
4. What is the meaning and inspiration behind the band's name?
*The name is really old, and personally there isn't much meaning to it anymore. When we started we wanted a name that sounded different than typical metal bands around at that time. We wanted something obscure so we came up with 'The Secret'.
5. What are some of the best shows that the band has played so far and how would you describe your stage performance?
*The whole US tour we did last year with our fellows Early Graves from San Francisco was awesome.
We played our last American show at LA Murderfest. It was great to share the stage with bands as Rotten Sound or Eyehategod. OurlLast shows were great too. We played at a festival in Bologna, Italy a few weeks ago, and turnout was very good.
6. What are some of the touring plans for the future, any US dates lined up?
*We're working on a 4 week long American tour right now. We should be on the road next year around April/March. After that we plan on playing some festivals here in Europe, come back to Italy, and work on a European tour around June/July.
7. The new album came out on Southern Lord, how would you describe the support that the label has given you so far?
*Being on Southern Lord is just great, we feel lucky to be part of such an amazing roster. Press for the moment has been better than we expected, SL is doing a great job. The first reviews have been really good, so we can't really complain.
8. How have extreme metal fans worldwide react to your music so far?
*The feedback for the new record has been great both in the States and here in Europe. We'd love to tour other parts of the world in 2011, right now we're talking about some shows in Israel, we should have more news soon.
9. How would you describe your musical progress over the years and what direction do you see the music heading into on future releases?
*Things have changed a lot since we started. We recorded our first full length when we were still very young and we nearly completely disbanded after it came out. We had a completely new line up for our second album "Disintoxication" and it was a new beginning for us. I think the foundations of our sound can be found in "Disintoxication" but after that record came out we felt we needed a more straight-forward approach to really give our best. In the new record songs are faster and shorter and song structure is usually very simple. We wanted to keep everything as pure as possible and "Solve et Coagula" is the result. We're already writing some new stuff, but the direction we're gonna go in on the next record is still unclear. New songs maybe have a stronger black metal influence but we mainly have a bunch of riffs we're toying with in our practice space.
10. What are some bands or musical styles that have influenced your music and also what are you listening to nowadays?
*There are tons of bands that influenced our sound. I listen to a lot of different kinds of music, basically everything from The Beatles to Black Metal, basically everything but electronic music. Lately i've been listening to a lot of Led Zeppelin live recordings and early Swedish death metal like Entombed or Dismember. Right now i'm listening to an awesome british band called Guapo; they play very dark cinematic prog jazzy music with a lot of different elements. They remind me of an Italian band from the 70's called Goblin mixed with some psychedelic/ethnic elements. Great band.
11. Does Occultism or Satanism play any role in the music?
*Not really. We love occult imagery but i really don't believe in anything. God, Satan and other religious icons are just a subtle invention the church used to spread fear to obtain power over the centuries. Our message is definitely more an attack to the hypocrisy of organized religion. Here in Italy the Vatican still has a lot of power and a great influence in our politics and it's a shame. Anyway i read La Vey's works and i am definitely a fan.
12. Are there any other side projects besides this band or is this a full time group?
*This is definitely a full time band even though we all have shitty day jobs to make a living.
13. Outside of music what are some of your interests?
*Cinema, food, contemporary art, smoking pot, big amplifiers, coffee, tea, the occult.
14. Any final words or thoughts before we close this interview?
*No gods, no masters.
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