Review by Felix on January 20, 2024.

Some weeks ago, I was visiting the Luxembourgian border town Vianden. Very picturesque, with a river, a castle, crooked streets and some nice restaurants. While I was eating my exquisite gourmet food (spaghetti bolognaise), the spearhead of Luxembourg's thrash scene, Scarlet Anger, came to my mind. In view of their punchy debut, I was curious about their second work. So here comes "Freak Show", an album with a design / concept that refers to old horror comics. This is absolutely not my metier and I do not understand anything, but that's irrelevant. Let the music do the talking.

Scarlet Anger still play thrash metal, but they have slightly modified their style. Velocity is of minor importance. Heavyweight brutality does not prevail as well. With that said, it goes without saying that they are forced to present an equivalent compensation. Do they provide excellent riffs, a high degree of musicality, robust song patterns or great choruses? From my point of view, the answer is pretty clear. Already the glorious double hit at the beginning proves the mature musicianship of the five guys from Dummeldeng. (I really like the names of Luxembourgian towns such as Dummeldeng. Wasserbillig is also one of my favourites.) The opener is based on fantastic lines and a convincing mixture of sharp riffs and fairly casual parts. Not to mention its remarkable chorus. Furthermore, another thing becomes immediately evident. The excellent production gives every band member room to show his skills. Transparent, sharp and well balanced, these words describe the sound fittingly. The lacerating "Attack of the Insidious Invader" is among the most aggressive songs of the album. It lies in close proximity to the stormy eruptions of their debut. The homicidal chorus reveals the merciless side of the band, but the entire song does not show any signs of weakness.

The majority of the following tracks fails to achieve the same quality level. Scarlet Anger are striving for variety and a lot of good parts show up, regardless of their degree of brutality. Songs like the mid-harsh "The Abominable Master Gruesome" or "Welcome to the Freak Show" (lame beginning, but it grows constantly and has a catchy chorus) illustrate that the compositional recipe of the band can work. Only "The Unbelievable Story of a Stupid Boy" does not get out of the starting blocks and relatively harmless, partially Maiden-esque instrumental parts of the third track do not hit the mark as well. But the exciting, relatively brutal closer demonstrates that the second word of the band's name was deliberately chosen. Yet the album also houses a certain number of tunes that present a mixture of very strong and less compelling sequences. Sometimes less is more and perhaps Scarlet Anger would have been well advised to integrate two or three simple yet effective high speed thrashers. Nevertheless, "Freak Show" is an ambitious work and it is laudable that the band tries to realize its musical vision. Half-hearted compromises do not show up in the cosmos of the formation. The same applies for feeble vocals in view of the truly powerful performance of Joe Block. He unites the rage of Gary Meskil with the expressiveness of guys such as Gus Chambers (R.I.P.). His contribution dominates songs such as "The Thing Without a Name".

If you ask me for my personal opinion, Scarlet Anger have not yet exhausted all their opportunities. The quintet impresses with a fine sense for resilient melodies and despite an unexpected number of relaxed harmonies, the band is not afraid of ferocious, more or less malicious outbursts. Only the final touch is sometimes missing. The third album will show whether the talented guys are able to take the next step. To win the Luxembourgian championship is one thing, but to become an established member of the worldwide thrash scene is something completely different. However, I intend to visit Vianden, Ettelbrück or Luxembourg City again next year and I wish I can then think of the release of their third full-length while eating another delicious portion of spaghetti bolognaise.

Rating: 7.7 out of 10

Review by JD on December 19, 2016.

It is official, Europe is now getting seriously thrash crazy. New bands are cropping up and taking old school thrash to the next level and kicking through like crazy. All of these bands hold the fundamental roots of thrash in check while injecting it with a new power and blood with each release, the results are interesting and exciting.

I have reviewed Scarlet Anger before (the album was Dark Reign), gave them a solid 8 out of 10 and hoped this Luxembourg based band would take a step in their evolution and step out of the shadows of their influences. I had found Scarlet Anger on the verge of breaking out back then so let's see if they have or not.

Freak Show is a solid album right through the entire disk. Songs like the album opener 'Awakening of the Elder God' and the title track are strong musically - showing strong melody while still giving you crushing thrash that harkens back to the late 80's ground-breaking moments while adding is other metal elements. The Pantera-esque vocals although sometimes do not match up well with some songs and are seemingly out of place. Amazingly solid album given here, but still not as much in the way of advancement as I was expecting. The strength of the band is the musicianship delivered with the subtlety of a howitzer while the weakness is the vocals in spots.

I call this a cautious next step in Scarlet Anger's growth, but not nearly big enough. It is still one hell of a good album, but a great urgency to get to that next step still exists.

Rating: 8 out of 10