SECRET RULE –

vote
7.5

• Bands:
  SECRET RULE
• Duration: 00:42:31
• Available from: 10/24/2025
• Label:

• Rockshots Records

Secret Rule have reached their tenth studio album and so this new album of theirs, as if to underline the fact that they have achieved this important milestone, is simply titled “X”.
A path that also took place rather quickly – if we think that the first album, “Transposed Emotions”, was released ten years ago – during which we saw the band make several line-up changes and some stylistic evolution, moving from classic melodic metal with symphonic elements to a slightly more modern approach.

Speaking of this, we left the Roman band a couple of years ago with the publication of “Uninverse”, a record that actually convinced us very little: the sound in fact veered decisively towards sounds that were too cold, with lowered guitars, a greater presence of electronic elements and a singing with the voice tending to be mostly very high and 'screaming' all the time.
A change whose results probably did not convince Secret Rule themselves and which evidently led them to a decisive change of direction: the entire rhythm section was removed, Sofia Basili on bass and Andrea Miazzetto on drums were included in the band; we also return to a melodic metal which is still characterized by a modern approach but which does not completely abandon symphonic elements, inserted with a certain appropriateness to enrich and fill the sound in certain passages; for her part, Angela Di Vincenzo's singing returns to being more varied and articulated even on lower keys, thus returning to being decidedly more expressive.
In short, our feeling is that the band was able to identify all the weak points present in “Uninverse”, keeping the little good that there was in that experience, to give greater strength and effectiveness to a style more congenial to them, thanks to which they had received widespread acclaim with records such as “The Key To The World” and “Against”.
The result of this “X” is therefore that of a rather convincing album, although characterized by very direct and essential songs, but still of good impact, focused on Andy Menario's strong riffs and very catchy and melodic refrains.
The songs work very well and manage to be captivating from the very first listens. Several singles have already been released, namely “Echoes Of The Earth”, “In The Silence”, “Silent Pain” and “Just A Sacrifice”, but practically the entire tracklist is made up of very good songs that are no exception: in fact, in our opinion, other songs could also be potential singles such as “The Answer”, an excellent opening piece, “Walking Down The Streets”, a lively track, which immediately starts running, “Eternal Symphony”, with the bass and a nice set of keyboards in evidence or the thrilling “Destiny Reloaded”, just to name a few.

The band therefore realized that the path they had taken was perhaps not the best and was able to get back on track with extreme clarity, creating an album composed of brilliant songs, in which they were able to rediscover the stylistic coordinates to express themselves at their best, with undoubtedly appreciable results.