Scarlet Rebels fly the flag for seriously good fun Rock & Roll.

Release Date: 16th August 2024

Label: Earache Records

Format: CD / Digital / Vinyl / Cassette

Scarlet Rebels. Could be the new secret drug… Especially when the song of the same name kicks off a collection and pulls you in by the scruff of the neck. It’s the proverbial ‘stomping anthem’ that makes you wonder why these guys aren’t (yet) playing in the bigger leagues with their musical links and chops in the same rarified air as the likes of AC/DC and The Cult. By their own admittance, their wear those influences on their sleeve – there may even be a Springsteen or Petty related tattoo secreted somewhere about their persons, but that’s who they are.

With a top ten album (See Through Blue) already in their pockets, Where The Colours Meet has the band declaring how “it’s the best set of songs we’ve written,” together with an obvious joy in creating the new songs that shines through. Singer Wayne Doyle calls it “an album of unity, a call for togetherness in a world gone mad – an album that will bring people together,” and with his admiration for a certain Bruce Springsteen already on our pages, you can appreciate the uplifting and inspirational quality that pours from the songs and the band’s performance.

Let Me In, Declining and Grace follow suit in the feelgood Rock and Roll stakes and there’s surely a strong sense of camaraderie with another ATB fave band, massive Wagons, who plough similar furrows with the same passion and fire.

Where The Colours Meet isn’t just a one trick pony. Variations are flagged up in It Was Beautiful that opens with a reflective and understated passage before exploding to life – one that you could see Bon Jovi rocking the stadia with – and Practice Run comes complete with a lush piano based arrangement, but the focus remains on what the Rebels do best.

There are guests too! Perhaps spotting a good thing when they see it and jumping on the bandwagon while there’s room, Elles Bailey (a name we know very well) collaborates on a typically Elles brooder where she comes across all Bonnie Tyler as the South Wales/Bristol Venn diagram overlaps. Out Of Time completes with a measured guitar solo and possibly the biggest production of the record. Also onboard is Ricky Warwick on a furious and biting My House My Rules – less on the melody and more on the fire, passion and general hard rock.

As another one of those earworm choruses in How Much Is Enough suggests: “we deserve so much more” and you can’t argue with that.

Here’s album opener/scene setter, Secret Drug:

Scarlet Rebels online: Website / Facebook / X-Twitter / Instagram / Youtube

Keep up with At The Barrier: Facebook / X (formerly Twitter) / Instagram / Spotify / YouTube