Band:	Rosy Finch
Album:	Scarlet
Style:	Experimental rock, Stoner rock
Release date:	March 05, 2020
A review by:	BitterCOld

01. Oxblood
02. Lava
03. Vermilion
04. Amaranto
05. Gin Fizz
06. Ruby
07. Alizarina
08. Scarlet
09. Dark Cherry

Somewhere Kat Bjelland is nodding her head, hard to the beat, and smiling while Scarlet by Rosy Finch thunders along on her stereo. Or at least I imagine this the case. Get your Grudge? Slunge? SludgeGrudge on!

Some five years ago, about the same time Exhausting Fire came out I wrote "this was that cool Kylesa album you were hoping for." Apparently that approach didn't catch enough of your ears/eyes/attention so altering my tactics this time.

Take yerself some good and visceral Stoner & Sludge, then toss in a lot of 90s influences - Riot Grrls (See the pre-cut Babes In Toyland reference), some grunge, a bit of Helmet-like riffing (only without Paige Hamilton's love of inserting space) and hooray, you've got Scarlet by Rosy Finch.

Hailing from Alicante, Spain, along the Spanish coast just west by southwest from Ibiza (/em English dudebro "BITHA! BITHA!") RF are far more stormy than sunny. At the core you've got the formula noted above - Stonerfied grunge riffs arranged in such a way where you feel the guitar chug, the drums have punch and the rumbling bass propels the whole thing along. More powerful, direct riffing is alternated with sections of great groove. And at times this all sort of drops away to more trippy parts.

I mentioned in my review of their prior effort, Witchboro, while the "Heavy Side" and "Fuzzy Side" approach fit with the narrative they band were laying down, mixing them up might be more audibly pleasing. Seems that was done here. It's not 20 minutes slowmo headbanging followed by 20 minutes of laying in your beanbag chair staring off, tripping out. Each song has a bit of slither and slide between approaches to keep it nice and fresh. This might be due to the line-up shift which saw the rhythm 2/3 of the power trio replaced by bassist Oscar Soler (Domo, Pyramidal) and bateria (drummer) Juanjo Ufarte (Grajo, The Dry Mouths) last year.

Mireia Porto remains and serves as Riffmistress General as well as vocals. Mentioned the great riffing before, now on the vocals. I referenced Kat Bjelland way back at the top - I stumbled on to Babes In Toyland. Back before, well, almost everyone on MS was born I picked up a copy of Fontanelle and it blew me away. To me was unparalleled vocal work for the music - until now. Mireia is also able to mix and match the wistful whispering, lilting soft vocals along with rage-filled shouts. Not Landmine Marathon OG Grace Park strip paint off your car at 15 meters harsh, but a visceral howl that perfectly fits their ?Grudge? (GrungeSludge?).

Get nekkid, pour yourself a "Gin Fizz", douse yourself in "Oxblood" and get [url= https://discosmacarras.bandcamp.com/album/scarlet]Finched[/url].