The Flavor That Kills to Release ‘Book of Secrits’ Vinyl on March 15th

Delivering a mix of rock, soul, melody, and a dash of classic psychedelic sensibilities, The Flavor That Kills will release their edgy genre-fluid album Book of Secrits (purposely misspelled) on red vinyl on March 15th.

The Madison, Wisconsin-based unit is Ryan Corcoran (lead vocals, guitar, piano), Educational Davis (guitars, synthesizers, bongos), Christian Burnson (bass, vocals, synthesizers), and Eric Hartz (drums and synthesizers).

They have also released their new music video for the angsty and chaotic new single “Nerve.”

The band’s third release, first with guitarist Educational Davis, was delivered in early 2024 on Shortwave Records. It was engineered/mixed by Beau Sorenson (Bob Mould, Superchunck, Death Cab for Cutie). Book of Secrits follows the release of Pablo’s Hippos (2014) and Nevermind The Acorns (2018).

Book of Secrits is a concept album about the alien origin and possible destruction of human civilization. On Book of Secrits, The Flavor The Kills blends genres and delivers rock grooves with strong hooks and backbeats.

Says Burnson:

“Given that all four of us have different tastes and musical backgrounds, I hope the listener comes away with a sense of how organic this music is. Each one of us lends a piece to the melting pot.”

The Flavor That Kills ‘Book of Secrits’ album artwork

When asked about the songwriting, vocalist Corcoran shares:

“In all truth, without analogy, it is something I needed to get off my chest. Without getting into profane details, I have carried a series of disturbing impressions from parts of my earliest recollections with me since my childhood through adolescence and adulthood. These are things I repressed, ignored, and convinced myself were nothing, yet when I would ask my mind’s eye to look, this set of events, mental images, sounds, and impressions of difficult emotional states are vivid. These things seem like dreams, yet they are more articulated in my internal perspective than any of my waking memories.

“Then there was internal discord that turned into external discord, which turned into addictions, jail time, ruined relationships, and a bitter loathsome unhappiness that became the rotating misery of my life. As time passed, it led to an intersection where either I could go down a road of delusion and destruction or turn down a path where I was to survive for a time longer.”

Drummer Hartz chimes in:

“The album to me is a journey of serendipity, we tried to record this during the pandemic, but it didn’t work out, so we stopped. We revisited it once things calmed down and started over. I produced the album with Beau Sorenson, we recorded it live, and pretty much had to build a studio in the basement of a Madison recording studio called Coney Island to get it done right.

“I think part of the reason the songs turned out raw was that Ryan was in real pain when he was writing them. I never knew the lyrics until I forced Ryan to give us the lyric sheets, on the surface, I thought they were thought-provoking. What I didn’t know at the time was the struggles Ryan was going through in his life, maybe that’s why the whole thing came together. I felt a real emotional connection to the record when it was finished.”

Davis concludes:

“This album is a window into a world of manic rock n’ roll chaos reflecting the times and individuals who produced it.”