Scarlet Records

Volturian – Crimson Review

Volturian – Crimson Review

“The brainchild of Frozen Crown’s Federico Mondelli and Sleeping Romance’s Federica Lanna, Volturian prioritizes fun over all. These tunes will get stuck in your head, you will kind of hate that they get stuck in your head, and you will be powerless to stop it if you give it the smallest opening.” Activate earworm lock!

DarkTribe – Voici l’homme Review

DarkTribe – Voici l’homme Review

“Rather than a refreshed take on a démodé genre, DarkTribe’s music feels as if abducted from the late 1990s or early 2000s and put into stasis, trapped in that timeline and preserved in a pristine state forever. So powerful and candid is this stylistic anachronism that the band’s third LP Voici l’homme acts as a rotten Proustian Madeleine, eternally evoking yet never reaching the sonic imagery of first encounters with bands such as Labyrinth, Stratovarius, and Evergrey.” Lost tribes.

Horned Almighty – To Fathom the Master’s Grand Design Review

Horned Almighty – To Fathom the Master’s Grand Design Review

“If you mopped up all the Darkthrone albums and wrung the juice out into a bucket, the grey slop collected would have the same general properties as To Fathom the Master’s Grand Design. Horned Almighty deliver their simplified black/death metal in a punky but neat package: ‘t’s crossed, ‘i’s dotted, Satans hailed.” Cleanup in aisle trve.

Noveria – Aequilibrium Review

Noveria – Aequilibrium Review

“Coupled with an overly dense production, Forsaken left a bad taste in my mouth, and my review was decidedly mixed, noting the issues above, while lamenting how good everything else was. Noveria is absolutely a talented band; they just made a series of misjudgments that I could not overlook and feverishly hoped they would not repeat. So it wasn’t without some hesitation I took up Aequilibrium. And let me tell you: there are few greater joys than the feeling that a band has taken your constructive criticism to heart.” Power with grace.

Excalion – Emotions Review

Excalion – Emotions Review

“Once upon a time, your friendly neighborhood Steel Druhm was a big time power metal nerd. I loved nearly all of it, no matter how cheesy, poppy, dragon intensive or elf friendly it was. With advancing age and the inevitable cynicism that follows, my tolerance for saccharine-sweet Euro-pop-power diminished, and I’ve became increasingly judicious in what is deigned worthy for admittance in the ears ov Steel. One of the few power metal albums I still return to regularly is Excalion’s 2007 opus Waterlines. The Finnish act found a near-perfect blend of heaviness, accessibility and over-the-top fun on that platter and its withstood the test of time and shifts in listening habits.” Songs and Emotion.

SinHeresY – Out of Connection Review

SinHeresY – Out of Connection Review

“We all have our weird idiosyncratic dislikes. For me, one of those is people who cut spaghetti with a knife. Despicable barbarism. Another is the random and unnecessary capitalization of letters within a word. So you can imagine my reaction when the new album from SinHeresY landed in my lap.” Don’t hang up.

Moonlight Haze – De Rerum Natura Review

Moonlight Haze – De Rerum Natura Review

“I guess I brought this on myself. All that trash I’ve been talking at the office about power metal has finally come full circle, and here I am laying out the carpet for a power metal band. The debate rages on: does power metal belong among the ranks of true metal or is it too melodic? I suppose, since the beginning, one of metal music’s core tenets has always been a focus on excess. Whether it be slamming death metal’s absurdly violent lyrics or black metal’s corpsepaint, power metal’s dramatic focus on the operatic and epic certainly fits.” Abuse of power.

Stormlord – Far Review

Stormlord – Far Review

“Every once a while we at AMG hack and slash each other for promos. In this case, I slice-and-diced one Very Messy Individual™ (Holdeneye) in the name of a symphonic death metal band by the name of Stormlord. You see, symphonic death and symphonic black metal seem to be on the upswing this year.” Storming with malice.

Atlas Pain – Tales of a Pathfinder Review

Atlas Pain – Tales of a Pathfinder Review

“2017 brought with it many things. Chief among them was the debut record by Italy’s Atlas Pain. Featuring speedy, bombastic folk metal, it was enjoyable and stuck with me more than its 3.0 may suggest. The passing of two years has brought a sophomore release called Tales of a Pathfinder at a make-or-break stage in any band’s career. Atlas Pain have approached this challenge with all the bright colors, zany attitude and symphonic trimmings which I enjoyed on the first go around and I’m delighted to write that their Italian charm has not been lost.” Can’t let it go.

Frozen Crown – Crowned in Frost Review

Frozen Crown – Crowned in Frost Review

“I can’t recall another band in recent memory that has exploded as quickly as Frozen Crown. These Italian rising stars formed in 2017, and now, less than two years later, I’m stunned to have in my hands their second full length record. Not that I’m complaining; their self-titled effort from last year is one of the better power metal debuts I’ve heard, a varied, exciting blending of power metal and melodeath, both molded in the Finnish tradition. Yet my anticipation was weighed down by a hint of trepidation.” Fear is the Crown killer.