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Secret South Artist: 16 Horsepower Label: Glitterhouse Length: 11 tracks/42:12minutes

Coming to Secret South directly from Low Estate's intensity, it may seem that Sixteen Horsepower have taken some sandpaper to their sound, smoothing off some of the edges and polishing up the result.

Such an observation wouldn't be entirely misplaced. The band's new material isn't quite as extreme in its heady brew of Appalachian, eastern European and gothic sounds as that to be found on their last outing. But it doesn't depart too far from the niche they've already carved for themselves.

David Eugene Edwards's writing seems to be becoming more autobiographical, and more explicit in its statements of faith. Despite being a cover, "Wayfaring Stranger" is one of a number of tracks which give clearer clues to how Edwards perceives the journey he's on, with it's description of what lies across the Jordan: "Beautiful fields lye just before me/Where God's redeemed their vigils keep." On this album we get a fuller picture of Edwards's faith as his knowledge of his redemption moves up next to the fear of judgment.

Despite those subtle changes, the tone of this album flies in the face of most of what is labeled "Christian music." Perhaps partly for that reason, that label is certainly not espoused by Sixteen Horsepower. Yet it is not just the strong southern influences such as O'Conner which Edwards's writing draws the mind to, but also such "religious" authors as John Bunyan. In Pilgrim's Progress the toils and troubles simply make the joyful times more substantial, and so it is here.

This album marks a new chapter for Sixteen Horsepower, and a more commercially successful one if their current popularity in Holland and France continues, and it also shows them fitting the pieces of their creations more easily together. While there was much to enjoy in the rough fits on Low Estate, this new balance has its own appeal and continues to allow Edwards a setting in which to work out his faith, however much fear and trembling it may involve.

James Stewart 05/03/2000

Their third full-length album, Secret South reveals a kinder, gentler 16 Horsepower. With less fire and brimstone and more gentle persuasion, the majority of these songs warm like a Holy Spirit whisper, rather than cause you to sit bolt-straight upright from a bold prophets canyon-filling screams. Although a dash less dangerous, these eleven songs are no less interesting than the body of their earlier works and usually more. All the requisite 16HP themes of God's amazing and mysterious grace in the midst of woeful sin are stirringly intact, and the inspired music remains as hard to neatly classify as ever. 

Curiously, however, the two most accessible tracks are cover songs. The first is a spooky, emotionally visceral rendering of the traditional folk song, "Wayfaring Stranger," and the other is a reverent version of Bob Dylan's "Nobody accept You." Whereas these two more recognizable tracks stand out immediately, it doesn't take long to dig into the new, original material like the rowdy foot-stomper "Clogger" and the hauntingly melancholy "Burning Bush." Interestingly, U2 emerges as an unexpected influence on some of these tracks, particularly on "Cinder Alley" which sounds vaguely like early 80's work from Bono and Company. It is no mean feat that 16HP manage to sound both like a grizzly band from the American backwoods and fresh out of European avant garde houses. 

The only regret of this compelling collection is the difficult to decipher lyric sheet, which resembles a word search puzzle. Regardless, such foibles are a small price to pay for an import well worth the extra shipping charges. Is it too early to nominate the Album of the Year?

Steven S. Baldwin (7/12/00)