Nov 8, 20244 min read

A Massive Release from Secular Era & Drexl Bowie

A recent album release from Secular Era and Drexl Bowie delivers one heck of a massive Sonic drive with deepening and heavy guitar tones, riffs that rumble, and this emotionally driven sort of aggression that lets these songs hit really hard but also have vastness in their undertone.

The While Nero Played album is absolutely gigantic and spans a good 12 tracks and 47 minutes in length so when I tell you that this is the kind of record that you should be listening to from beginning to end, you should definitely believe me.

Listening to a few tracks from the record can I give you a little bit of a gist of what you might expect but will not give you the full range of what the album has to offer as a whole.

These songs hit like a sucker punch to the gut more than half of the time and I mean it in the best way possible.

The energy level for a lot of these tracks is absolutely through the roof and it feels like they recorded some of these live on the floor to an extent at least.

It feels as if the players involved were feeding off of each other and that's why these songs come out with so much raging energy and impactful soundscape.

The combination blends hardcore, classic melodic metal, a little bit of punk rock, and some progressive as well that's blended in with a touch of grunge and other heavy rock influences and it's all rolled into this one fat release, so you have all these amazing sounds and songwriting styles that create their own atmosphere in a way.

This release seriously showcases this band's love for their craft. When I say that I don't just mean playing instruments or singing, I mean writing songs together that are impactful and making a record that comes through as more of an experience than anything else.

This album is an escape, and it pulls you away from whatever you're doing and whatever you are and puts you in this completely different world for a chunk of time which is something I love.

Along with the amazing guitar tones, you have a drummer that really hits super hard so you can even feel the passion in the drumming of this band which is something you don't always get.

The drummer really pushes the envelope and delivers that drive that helps the whole band come through explosive.

The bass guitar tones are also outstanding, and not only do they add that fat low end, but they also add another layer of melody a lot of the time that creates a thicker musical approach and sound.

The vocalist is an absolute killer and really crushes it in terms of being able to deliver that range of emotion in the performance.

A lot of these songs are actually pretty honest and if you listen to the lyrics, you can tell that there's pieces of himself being given off in the songs themselves.

This lets the record come through more authentically.

Along with all this you do have a lot of that sort of pop-coated approach as well so some of the songs sound a little bit brighter and blend in some of that brightness with the edginess of the normal staple feel for the record, so you do hear pop punk influence and pop rock influence in there too a good amount of the time.

These songs are just anthemic. They have a massive tonality that hits hard and heavy but also with amazing melody and great hooks and choruses that end up sticking with you for hours after the songs have ended which is something that I adore about this release.

The only way to satiate something like that is to go and listen to the songs again and you may chalk that up to smart songwriting, but I think these guys do it naturally.

The record has a great range of intensity and emotion as I mentioned earlier. It's a bit of a roller coaster of a record but again, it hits super hard and has such memorable riffs and amazing production that really come through with just the right amount of polish so that the aesthetic of the record hits exactly the way it was meant to.

Now, I don't always talk about the mix of releases. I don't think a lot of writers do but, on this record, I have to touch base on it because the mix is done outstandingly and again, this is a huge attribute to the aesthetic of the record and its final feel.

The mix is done with an incredible balance so that the drums cut through, the vocals are strong but not over the top in the mix, and the guitar riffs are the meat of everything.

Amazing mix throughout this record.

Again, I would urge you to listen to this entire record from beginning to end so that you can have the full experience and do it loud.

I'm not going to say do it loud or don't do it at all. I'm not that guy. But do it loud.