Album Review: Scarlet Rebels - "See Through Blue"
Any band that touts itself as the sound of the (ugh) New Wave of Classic Rock getting political is at least an intriguing prospect on the surface and so I approached this second album from Llanelli rockers Scarlet Rebels with a bit of interest. I mean, it can't be any worse than some of the stinkers that this genre's thrown up in the last few years, surely? The opening track here I'm Alive reminds me a bit of a three way collision between the Struts, the Black Crowes and Reef with its twisting Skynyrd style riff. It's alright but it doesn't really stand out from the crowd. And unfortunately it's kind of symptomatic of the rest of this album - there's plenty of good musicianship and hard graft in there but the tunes here just don't have the hooks to really pull you in. Not to mention that tracks like the ballad-by-numbers Leave The Light On (which sounds like a second division Quireboys more than anything) really do lay on the clichés like nobody'...