The bulk of Agnus Dei, the fourth full-length from Italy's aggressive and eclectic the Secret, feels like whiplash: The band slingshots between corrosive noise rock and blast-and-burn grindcore, between sheets of feedback and whirlpools of rhythm without notice. "Post Mortem Nihil Est" sits just ahead of the album's halfway point, where it encapsulates all those impulses in a bit more than 150 seconds.

The quartet erupts through a grim haze and trounces ahead at relative mid-tempo, biding their time for two short, pit-inducing bursts in which frontman Marco Coslovich invokes a credo suited for the end of such a song: "We all want to die," he screams, caught somewhere between serpent's tongue and strangulation. "We all want to die." Then, of course, they fade away, recharging for the next blitz.

[Agnus Dei is out October 23 on Southern Lord]