She Burns Red: Out Of Darkness

If you look back to their 2020 EP Take Back Tomorrow, it was clear that Scot rockers She Burns Red were onto something. Already having undergone major line-up reshuffles, the four-piece had still managed to blend eras and genres to deliver a simply stunning slap of hard rocking goodness. Only one song from that EP, the swaggering insistency of “Crosshairs�, survives to fight another day, but to be fair that’s only one less than the amount of band members who have also managed to stay the course, vocalist and guitarist Andy Moore and vocalist and bassist James McCulloch now joined by drummer Scott Hanlon (ex-Anchor Lane) and lead guitarist Naz Scanferato.

That lone-crossover song is still a huge, hook laden, rocking burst of melody with a chorus to die for and killer riffs, but good though it is She Burns Red are daring and smart enough not to simply repeat the formula. Instead, “Rise And Fall� flirts with a sound that heads in a more 90s direction, evoking the memory of one of that decade’s forgotten heroes, Paw, a snarling vocal wound round pounding drums and an up and at ‘em attitude that takes no prisoners. With “Stronger� brooding itself into a killer groove and “Out Of Darkness� capable of both stamping on and easing off the gas, one thing’s for sure here, you’ll never get stuck in a rut with this band.

In Naz Scanferato SBR have also found a real six-string talent, his fretwork throughout tasteful but never wasteful as he liberally adds colour and dynamics at exactly the right moments. Again, the title track to Out Of Darkness is a perfect example of that skill, but then so is the opening cut, “Touch�, where he - and the band - really let loose.

With a punky attitude but absolutely sackfuls of melody She Burns Red have pulled off that most difficult of musical tricks - traversing the eras of hard rock from the 70s right through to the 2020s without once sounding like they’re simply recreating former glories. As full length debuts go, this is impressive stuff.

Track Listing
1. Touch

2. Rise and Fall

3. Killing Time

4. Crosshairs

5. Heavy is the Head

6. Run

7. Stronger

8. Crack the Sky

9. Out of Darkness

Added: September 13th 2023
Reviewer: Steven Reid
Score:
Related Link: She Burns Red online
Hits: 631
Language: english

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