Review by Brian on September 29, 2015.

Deafheaven is one of those bands that has got a bad rap by the "true" crowd when it comes to black metal. They didn't help their cause with their previous album. Sunbather, in title alone isn't very black metal nor is the pink album cover. However the album did very well critically. It was plastered all over year end lists in 2013. Their follow up comes in the form of 5 slabs of unrelenting post black metal titled New Bermuda. This time around they went for a heavier, darker approach than Sunbather.

The biggest improvement on New Bermuda is George Clarke's vocals. On Sunbather it was all one steady high pitched scream with no variation. There was no character to his vocals. It's what held it back from being a great album. This time he adds mixture of some deeper snarls to go with higher shrieks. The music also made some changes. There are quite a bit of chugging guitar riffs. This works so well with the shoegaze elements. Maybe these guys took it to heart when they were called hipster metal or that they weren't really heavy and were more just a shoegaze/post rock band with screaming vocals.

They don't waste time bring all these new elements to the table. Right off the bat in opening track "Brought to the Water" they quickly go from a tremolo picking black metal riff to a chugging heavy riff. This eventually all melts into a beautiful shoegaze melody that reeks of what Deafheaven is all about. "Luna" continues the assault with heavy chugging riffs and elaborate black metal melodies all wrapped up in a shoegaze blanket.

"Baby Blue" is the best and heaviest song on the album. It starts off with a peaceful little intro before busting out into twisted black metal with blast beats. This should make the "true" fans happy. Again the chugging guitars take center stage really beefing up the sound. This song also is Clarke's best vocal performance on the album. He attacks the song with a variety of tortured screams from high to somewhat deeper until it fades out in a very soft shoegaze melody.

"Come Back" has a little post rock vibe for the first part of the song before the albums best chuggy riff kicks in. Again the vocals give the song depth because he uses variations which he didn't do on the last album.

Closer "Gifts from the Earth" has a dreamy 90's alternative rock feel. It could pass for a Smashing Pumpkins song if weren't for the vocals. This time around Clarke layers the vocals for a fuller sound. There's a spoken part that is hidden underneath the screams. It shifts to a heavy moment before it's climax of a beautiful uplifting melody that finally eases into piano and acoustic guitar that finish off the album.

Deafheaven has come back stronger that ever. If you put aside your preconceived notions of what this band is and just listen to the music you will find a well written, well executed and well produced album. I expect that New Bermuda will find itself on lots of year end lists. I know it will be on mine.

Rating: 8.5 out of 10

Review by Felix on January 20, 2024.

The smallest neighbour of my homeland Germany, Luxembourg, offers an idyllic aura and is attractive to tourists. But as far as I know, it used to be a blank area on the metal map of Europe for a long time. Today, however, some aggressive guys are resident in the well protected Grand Duchy. The five ruffians of Scarlet Anger belong to this species. "Dark Reign" is the fairly ordinary name of their first full-length. It gives witness to the skills of the group in terms of songwriting and musicianship as well. The five-man-army has good ideas without overstepping the borders of their genre. That´s the correct attitude in view of the fortunate circumstance that I am talking about almost flawless thrash metal - the only genre which gives me the pleasant feeling of eternal youth. An illusory placebo, of course, but I like it...

Scarlet Anger´s musical forefathers definitely did not originate from Europe. The band is aligned to the glorious sound of the old Bay Area heroes. The musicians transport the original approach of more or less legendary bands such as Testament or Forbidden into the now and here. And the good thing is that the band successfully avoids rancid song structures. The guitar work convinces from start to finish and the drums make your head bang and your feet tapping. Another positive note is the fact that the band has no problems finding the right balance between melody and rawness. The well designed interplay of fast parts and more harmonic sounds works in an almost brilliant manner. As a result, the album´s flow is impressing.

This full-length has been recorded during two sessions in 2011 and 2012, marked as "Chapter 1" and "Chapter 2". But this does not mean that the record offers two different faces of the band. Scarlet Anger score with a homogeneous appearance. Maybe the second "Chapter" follows a slightly rougher direction. However, there exists no significant difference. More importantly, the high level of "Chapter 1" does not decrease during the album´s second half. This leads to the fact that I am not able to identify a throwaway track. In contrary to the songwriting, the clean production does not build a bridge to the past. The sound can be described as modern, transparent and powerful. Due to the domination of the guitars, the producers obviously knew exactly what is important.

Although thrash metal is undoubtlessly the musical home country of my European neighbours, the band also got a little hardcore injection. The often used back vocals and the aggressive shouting of the lead singer point in this direction. Finally, the album is mastered by Annihilator´s Jeff Waters. This is actually not worth mentioning. But if you still like to listen from time to time to the debut of these Canadians, you surely will enjoy "Dark Reign", too. The target group of the album is clearly defined, now it´s up to you.

Rating: 7.8 out of 10

Review by JD on August 7, 2012.

I see by the bio of this band Scarlet Anger, I have my second Luxembourg based metal band in barely a few weeks. I am thinking that the Metal Gods are trying to tel me something. Sleepers Guilt was my first band I reviewed from this very small country (Rating was 7.4) and I liked that one to a point, then I was handed Scarlet Anger. I put it on, and then my smile could not be quelled.

As straight forward as the music of Scarlet Anger is the explanation of what this band is will be easier still. This is without a doubt old school, balls fucking out, anger fed full out headbanging Thrash Metal played the way it was back when the Big Four were all not-so-well known and were hungry to Thrash our asses off and wanted it really badly to take over the hair spray shit that was calling itself metal. With this Luxembourgian band, you get all that Old Thrash goodness with a fresh set of balls driving it to greater levels that ever before.

Intense riffs, vocals that are a perfect balancing act between shouted and growled and a rhythm section that keeps the Scarlet Anger engine running on all cylinders. Good examples of their prowess are 'New God Rising' with its galloping guitars and thunder bass to the vocal explosive chaos of 'Face Of Evil'. These guys are the poster boys for the return of perfect old styled Thrash. Dispite at time repeating a riff a time or two in another song, this album flat out hits ever note like it was its last.

If there could be better production values, a little more experience and getting a major label’s push, Scarlet Anger just may get very damned close to being in the same league as the Big Four of Thrash. Nobody now could ever ignore these facts any longer: Thrash is not at all close to being dead, it is very much alive and growing stronger to take its place at the head of metaldom - as it should be.

Categorical Rating Breakdown

Musicianship:8.5
Atmosphere: 8.5
Production: 7
Originality: 8
Overall: 8

Rating: 8.0 out of 10

Review by Felix on January 20, 2024.

The smallest neighbour of my homeland Germany, Luxembourg, offers an idyllic aura and is attractive to tourists. But as far as I know, it used to be a blank area on the metal map of Europe for a long time. Today, however, some aggressive guys are resident in the well protected Grand Duchy. The five ruffians of Scarlet Anger belong to this species. "Dark Reign" is the fairly ordinary name of their first full-length. It gives witness to the skills of the group in terms of songwriting and musicianship as well. The five-man-army has good ideas without overstepping the borders of their genre. That´s the correct attitude in view of the fortunate circumstance that I am talking about almost flawless thrash metal - the only genre which gives me the pleasant feeling of eternal youth. An illusory placebo, of course, but I like it...

Scarlet Anger´s musical forefathers definitely did not originate from Europe. The band is aligned to the glorious sound of the old Bay Area heroes. The musicians transport the original approach of more or less legendary bands such as Testament or Forbidden into the now and here. And the good thing is that the band successfully avoids rancid song structures. The guitar work convinces from start to finish and the drums make your head bang and your feet tapping. Another positive note is the fact that the band has no problems finding the right balance between melody and rawness. The well designed interplay of fast parts and more harmonic sounds works in an almost brilliant manner. As a result, the album´s flow is impressing.

This full-length has been recorded during two sessions in 2011 and 2012, marked as "Chapter 1" and "Chapter 2". But this does not mean that the record offers two different faces of the band. Scarlet Anger score with a homogeneous appearance. Maybe the second "Chapter" follows a slightly rougher direction. However, there exists no significant difference. More importantly, the high level of "Chapter 1" does not decrease during the album´s second half. This leads to the fact that I am not able to identify a throwaway track. In contrary to the songwriting, the clean production does not build a bridge to the past. The sound can be described as modern, transparent and powerful. Due to the domination of the guitars, the producers obviously knew exactly what is important.

Although thrash metal is undoubtlessly the musical home country of my European neighbours, the band also got a little hardcore injection. The often used back vocals and the aggressive shouting of the lead singer point in this direction. Finally, the album is mastered by Annihilator´s Jeff Waters. This is actually not worth mentioning. But if you still like to listen from time to time to the debut of these Canadians, you surely will enjoy "Dark Reign", too. The target group of the album is clearly defined, now it´s up to you.

Rating: 7.8 out of 10

Review by JD on August 7, 2012.

I see by the bio of this band Scarlet Anger, I have my second Luxembourg based metal band in barely a few weeks. I am thinking that the Metal Gods are trying to tel me something. Sleepers Guilt was my first band I reviewed from this very small country (Rating was 7.4) and I liked that one to a point, then I was handed Scarlet Anger. I put it on, and then my smile could not be quelled.

As straight forward as the music of Scarlet Anger is the explanation of what this band is will be easier still. This is without a doubt old school, balls fucking out, anger fed full out headbanging Thrash Metal played the way it was back when the Big Four were all not-so-well known and were hungry to Thrash our asses off and wanted it really badly to take over the hair spray shit that was calling itself metal. With this Luxembourgian band, you get all that Old Thrash goodness with a fresh set of balls driving it to greater levels that ever before.

Intense riffs, vocals that are a perfect balancing act between shouted and growled and a rhythm section that keeps the Scarlet Anger engine running on all cylinders. Good examples of their prowess are 'New God Rising' with its galloping guitars and thunder bass to the vocal explosive chaos of 'Face Of Evil'. These guys are the poster boys for the return of perfect old styled Thrash. Dispite at time repeating a riff a time or two in another song, this album flat out hits ever note like it was its last.

If there could be better production values, a little more experience and getting a major label’s push, Scarlet Anger just may get very damned close to being in the same league as the Big Four of Thrash. Nobody now could ever ignore these facts any longer: Thrash is not at all close to being dead, it is very much alive and growing stronger to take its place at the head of metaldom - as it should be.

Categorical Rating Breakdown

Musicianship:8.5
Atmosphere: 8.5
Production: 7
Originality: 8
Overall: 8

Rating: 8.0 out of 10