Secular Era & Drexl Bowie is an Electronic Rock collaboration from Kirksville, Missouri, formed by Mike Sullivan and Drexl Bowie. Drexl, who has been the guitarist for the band for around a decade, took the lead on their latest album, “While Nero Played”, writing and performing most of it himself. This album represents a personal concept project for Drexl, with the rest of the band contributing on drums and bass. Their sound blends Heavy Metal, Pop Punk, and Synthwave, drawing comparisons to bands like HIM and My Chemical Romance. On “While Nero Played”, they present a pumping set of tracks full of adrenaline — keep reading for my thoughts!
The title track comes at you with its energy right from the start — be it the clean guitar riff in the intro keeping you company for the first eight bars, or the immediate thrust of energy as the rhythm guitars, the drums, and the vocals all announce their entry at the same time. The uptick in energy is supremely well executed, playing to a precise, well-controlled cadence. As we enter the verses, the singing is immaculate, while the harmonies serve to further elevate the listener.
“Martyr” goes all in on the heavy metal shtick of this album — with ferocious double bass patterns, angry guitars, and gritty basses, the way this track builds its energy is simply exceptional. When the vocals do announce themselves, the blending between the background vocals and the leads, all while preserving that lush layer of harmony and thickness, is a medal-clincher.
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The madness is all over the album, especially on the opener — “Master Morality” — with its scalding guitar riffs, its high-energy presentation, and its extremely well put-together production; and further standouts include “Ideas Of March”, with its slower, heavier nu-metal/industrial metal sound that’s worth a headbang session every bar. The screams and growls on this track are simply immaculate; quite the win, I’d say.
The drumming is a standout part of the album, with its infectious halftime breakdowns, all while the vocals go from clean singing to one of the most polished, complete growl styles I’ve encountered — and on the title track, shortly after, the refrain section brings a solo that’s experimental, and dances all over the neck of the guitar, impressing with its technical and complex nature, while retaining the musicality that brings this song together in the first place.
As I may have earlier alluded to, the production on “While Nero Played” is the standout, with tasteful design happening in the instrumentals, while the ensemble focuses on capturing the right moments in the best possible ways across all the tracks. The energy stays an eleven on ten straight through the songs, not once letting you go from its cusp — and I mean this in the best of ways I can fathom — class act, this one.
All in all, “While Nero Played”, by Secular Era — a stack of dynamite is what this album is, and the energy is what makes it so very infectious. This album earns a two-thumbs-up! Check it out here:
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