Thee Secrete Society - Thee First Secrete
A mysterious and highly esoteric themed act that has been in existence since 2014 has finally released its debut! Containing members from well well-known acts like B°Tong, 1000Schoen, and Feine Trinkers Bei Pinkels Dahiem. A 75 released tape copies from Marbre Negre, lovely grey and silvery tape with text and a sexy occult-looking cover-artwork. Already curious?... Good!.
The first track Invocation starts the album in a ritualistic and dark-ambient lowkey manner. Not that far away from the early recordings by Ain Soph. Cold, deep, and hypnotizing ritualistic electronics submerge the listener into another world. Something strange going on in the background though. Strange reversed vocals and a strange sound of someone... messing with something. A lovely ear-opener if you ask me!
The second track Curse introduces a sound that sounds like a recorded toy piano in echoed reversed, distorted, and warped ritualistic vocals, icy electronic sounds with a techno-ambient Biosphere sort-of-a-feel, and the clattering of metallic bells. Interesting mixture of minds and ideas getting together here.
The third track (You Spoil The) Atmosphere is not a track that spoils the atmosphere! Quite the contrary! Cosmic ambient with a Lovecraftian twitch/Cosmic-horror if you ask me. A horrific and cold/cool track that offers a feeling you get... when you are experiencing a nasty lucid dream! Swirling murkiness, rumbling and infernal background noises (which sounds like a stomach!), icy and precise electronics, whispering voices from the shadows. Everything is nasty here, but incredibly pleased to hear at the same time. Lots of brains here people!
With the next (and fourth) track, you´ll have to turn over the tape cause now we are at the B-side of the album! Stars Right Be Wrong goes further into the cosmic-horror-sound. Metallic drones and rumbling spaceship ambient sounds blast the listener into deep space! The spoken-word vocals are soo well made here, talking about using the right effects at the right moment here people! The ambient and the atmosphere are just amazing here, very sincere and very convincing! Love the slow-flanged sound effect at the end, makes me think back to Throbbing Gristle´s live recording of Discipline.
The fifth track is called Cleansening Ceremony. A mesmerizing piece with psychedelic undertones. The listener will get slightly confused and hypnotized here, a lovely intermission for the last track!
The last track is called The Key To Annihilation. Starts in the same low-key ambient ritual mood as the first track. Might just be the most relaxing and most (slightly) melancholic piece on the album. It´s here where the listener might just feel that sensation of levitation! Whoever said that annihilation is a thing of ugliness, this track is a piece of sheer minimalistic loveliness.
A masterpiece of an album, a way of just saying... ´if you are going out to create a dark-ambient album, make sure it is an interesting one!´. Thee First Secrete is interesting and is bound to end up as a classic album that pushes the dark-ambient style into new cosmic-horror territories!
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