Agnus Dei, The Secret’s fourth and most recent record was released this past October and has received a welcome reception. As musicians what did you set out to accomplish with Agnus Dei?
It’s a kind of standard answer but we mainly tried to write an album that was better and more complete than the previous one. “Solve et Coagula” has been a turning point for our band, it gave us the chance to play more shows and with a lot of great bands. Playing live gave us more self-awareness as musicians and taught us a lot about ourselves and what we wanted to move towards with our new album. We didn’t want to move too far away from the approach on “Solve et Coagula” but at the same time we wanted to expand and get more control over our sound.
Where, when and with whom was Agnus Dei recorded? What influences were brought forward for this recording?
We recorded “Agnus Dei” at Godcity Studios in Salem, MA in July 2012 with Kurt Ballou behind the mixing board.
I don’t really know if it’s been influential but we listened to a lot of metal classics while writing “Agnus Dei”. Everything from Slayer to Metallica, Dio or Celtic Frost, Morbid Angel and Satyricon and so on.
What manner of experiences has The Secret had working with the always good Southern Lord Recordings?
We really like that Southern Lord always pushed the boundaries of heavy music independently from trends. Even before signing with them we were great fans of the label and some Southern Lord releases have been very influential for our music so we are proud to read our name next to some of what we consider modern classics.
Agnus dei is a liturgical prayer, represented by a lamb with a halo and crucifix banner. How was this symbolism integrated into the recording process and what does it represent in terms of the work as a whole?
Agnus Dei is the Latin for Lamb of God. Between 2011 and 2012 we became really fascinated with the role of sacrifice in our culture and that’s what we are exploring with this record. We’ve been taught since the beginning that Jesus Christ died on the cross to free us all and therefore committing the ultimate sacrifice for humanity. Countries send their children to die at wars, sacrificed for their nation. We all grew up learning that we all owe something to someone, our God, our country, our parents. We learn that we all have to pay somehow.
This is what “Agnus Dei” is about, it’s centered on sacrifice.
Agnus Dei showcases The Secret in their most pure, unapologetic form. What elements from Solve Et Coagula and its two predecessors are found on Agnus Dei?
I think our two first albums are very confused because we were still trying to create our own sound. What we are playing now started taking shape with “Solve et Coagula“. This doesn’t mean that our two last albums sound the same but “Agnus Dei” preserved the more traditional song-writing we used on “Solve et Coagula” or at least, we started from that. We kept most of our songs short and straight to the point but this time we tried to expand that sound and to make the album listening experience more complete. Tommaso’s drumming brought more control to our sound and led us to add more dynamics to the album as a whole.
The Secret’s discography plays like a violent middle-finger to the hypocrisies of civilization. What recent world events have endowed the music with this honest, bleak outlook?
The financial situation in our country is pretty dramatic at the moment and this influenced everyone’s lives in one way or another. At this point there is not much light to see at the end of the tunnel unless our whole system changes drastically at the foundation. People are becoming poor, scared and confused and and this fear and confusion is what we wanted to explore this time. Our generation was deluded and deceived so it’s very hard not to despise our whole establishment and this definitely has a big influence in our music.
You recently completed a tour of your native Italy, how did this compare to past outings?
Shows in Italy have been good, especially considering that playing 13 shows here isn’t something very common for bands like The Secret. It’s been surprising to play great shows in cities we never visited before, we definitely look forward to doing it again next year and hopefully hit a few places we missed this time.
How did the upcoming European tour with San Francisco’s Deafheaven take form and are there any cities you look forward to playing the most?
We had the chance to play with Deafheaven at SXSW few years ago and I think they’re a very interesting band. Even if our two bands sound different, we both share a part of the same background. I don’t like tours where all the bands sound exactly the same, some diversity definitely makes it a more interesting experience in my opinion.
Are there plans to tour North America and other parts of the world in the near future?
There’s nothing set in stone but we’re talking about a possible U.S. tour that we hope to know more about soon.
Any thoughts or comments you like to add for our readers?
Thank you for your support and the interest about The Secret. Cvlt Nation is one of the coolest things on the internet at the moment and it’s always cool to deal with you.
MICHAEL BERTOLDINI
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