‘This new human condition must be dealt with, or is it too late? All thoughts guided by artificial truths, built to sell, and force fear upon us’ (Powder Keg)

ConSec’s debut LP is defined by frenetic yet skilfully crafted hardcore.  Based in Athens, Georgia, the band fuse searing, high-octane pace with groove-laden breakdowns, rasping vocals with punchy group backing, to fiercely infectious effect.  Opener, Powder Keg sets the tone in terms of the album’s lyrical focus on systemic socio-economic oppression and the need to resist.  Frustration-fuelled rage powerfully reinforces these themes on tracks such as, Meat Shield (‘My whole life and everyone I see, has been forged with a shield made of meat’), Quick To Forget (‘Must be nice to be so naïve, and to think they’re just gonna change’), and the closing title track, Wheel Of Pain (‘I’ve had it with the goddamn grind fuelling these parasites’).  Welcome to the Wheel of Pain?  You’re already strapped to it.