Scarlet 2015
French band uncover traditional values in the faceless today and conceptualize their gloomy dream.
No matter what kind of gloom the name of this group and the title of their second album suggest, there’s no doom color in their sonic landscape. The quartet’s power metal has a theme-imposed tech hue to it, as drums and synthesizers wrap riffs in electronic buzz, but once “Red House Of Sorrow” arrives on a steamroller groove leading into a stadium-sized chorus, it’s as exciting as it gets in the clanging stakes. And though Loïc Manuello’s guitars go for epic sway, his licks hold enough rock ‘n’ roll to add piquancy to whatever dystopian concept the harmonies-flaunting songs like “A Last Will” carry.
More so, for every heroic movement of “Rainwar” and its ilk, pop melodies such as “My Last Odyssey” crop up to let Anthony Agnello’s voice shine, while the high-octane “No Train To Earth” comes on memorable. Yet the most beautiful moment is the coda of “Anthem For A Planet” which turns into a hypnotic, if still heavy, tribal chant lending a texture to the overall sharp assault. Nothing groundbreaking here, but pieces like these sound like saving grace for our aggressive age and that’s quite a feat.
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