It IS once again Bandcamp Friday, so if you’ve had your eye on something in your wishlist — or if you hear something today that catches your fancy — it’s a good time to make that purchase, since 100% of the cost ends up going straight to the artist!

For all my good friends and casual acquaintances out there reading these words: I’ve decided to close out the week with one album that was released last March by a band from the other side of the state that we’ve been fans of for a long time here in the Valley, and one that was released last Friday by an artist from the other side of the Atlantic whom we’ve only just learned about when they recently reached out by email. In both cases, we 100% guarantee you will love what you hear, or we’ll refund every penny you spent on your free subscription to valleyofsteel dot net.

 

Secret Cutter – /// (self-released, 20 March 2025)

 

Blunt Knife Castration – Blood & Oil (Remorseless Records, 27 February 2026)

 

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Longtime visitors may recall that I had previously written about the first two albums by Bethlehem (Pennsylvania)’s Secret Cutter, where I praised their interesting combination of sludge plus deathgrind. While it may have taken seven years to get a follow-up, existing fans and newcomers alike should find nothing to be disappointed about with their URL-and-search-engine-incompatibly-titled ///.

Feedbacky and noisy arrangements with vocals that are a blend of hoarse yelling and acidic shrieks, wild grindy drums (with a snare sound that pops prominently in the mix, without that over-the-top PING characteristic of brutal death or slam), combined with downtuned guitars that provide massively sludgy riffs and a bassline that really brings the groove (their Bandcamp and Metal Archives both credit just a single guitarist and no bassist, but whether it’s played on a bass or a guitar or a goddamn theremin, there’s definitely a killer bass groove in here — see “Spleen” or “Humanoid” in particular). Perhaps more than you’d expect out of songs that typically only last a minute or two, but that’s what you get: absolutely worth investing the twenty-two-ish minutes to check it out!

 

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Our second featured album today is newer in terms of release date (just came out a week ago), but also newer in terms of the band’s formation, as the single-member entity from Kent, England, known as Blunt Knife Castration (or BKC if you prefer) (and PS: I’d advise being really careful using the band’s name in a web search, as I accidentally found myself looking at a variety of farming tools sold on Amazon that I’ll never be able to unsee) has only been around for about the past three years. However, interestingly, this is also their third record.

Another similarity is that BKC also blend a variety of genres — principally sludge, but with bits of death, crust, and doom sprinkled throughout. The tone is very gritty and filthy, and with frequent references (especially via the occasional interspersed samples — probably in the lyrics as well, although the snarled and growled words aren’t always the easiest to decipher) to drugs and violence and death, comparisons to Eyehategod or the Patac Records catalog spring to mind.

Several of the tracks are more like a combination of sludge and punk — let’s say “sludge ‘n roll” for want of a better way to describe it, which actually makes a lot of sense considering the commonality between the roots of the styles. The panicked guitar solo in “Degeneration” stands out as a highlight, as does the sparse, bass-forward breakdown early in “Guilt Pig.” Later, the title track is where things really start to go off the rails, where the tempo takes a doomward nose-dive but the guitars, apparently not getting the memo, kick into a blackened tremolo riffing style; and honestly it only seems to get more unhinged from there…

 

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The Secret Cutter can be found digitally here or you can check it out at Bandcamp below.
 

 
Find Blood & Oil in digital format from the band, or on CD via their label.
 

 

Secret Cutter – website | Bandcamp
 
Blunt Knife Castration – Bandcamp | Soundcloud | YouTube
Remorseless Records – Bandcamp