After the incredible first full-length 'The Ruin Of Nova Roma' the four Welshmen of Taint took two years to finally come up with a new effort. My personal expectations were quite high, if only because of the fact that the modern sludge metal movement in which the band has nestled its sound seems to have reached its boiling point already with releases by Baroness, High On Fire, and Intronaut. What can these Britons offer against all this American metal violence?

After a thorough musical investigation one can only conclude that the band has grown into their own sound even more. The competition with the abovementioned bands can easily be avoided, as Taint has clearly moved into a direction of its own now. The band fits perfectly in between the metal oriented modern sludge bands, and oldschool heroes like Led Zeppelin. 'Secrets And Lies' contains a tad less metal, and whole lot more "pure rock fury", if you get my drifts.

Taint also has the guts to show the world where they come from exactly. 'What The Crow Saw' opens up their folkroots resulting in an amazing "Jethro Tull meets Mastodon" sound. With their wildly varied, technically top-notch riff-rock the band has stumbled upon a sound which contains everything that makes this kind of rocking metal so exciting these days. Taking all of this in account makes 'Secrets And Lies' nothing less than obligatory for the modern sludge metal fan.
--Lords Of Metal