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SCARLET SINS Self-Titled CD
By KRYSTINA GRANDMOND
Staff Writer
It starts with a good kick in the head, and doesn't let up for the entire time that the heavy, metal-infused rock pumps from your speakers.
A full on auditory beating, the band's youngest member and drummer, Elie Bertrand, does an amazing job at backing front lady, Sylvya NuVynska's vocals as she belts out the rough, deep, and heartfelt lyrics, song after song.
The first four tracks on the CD boast heavy beats, deep bass lines provided by the band’s bassist, Tanya Nicklaus, and enraging, get-your-blood-racing lyrics, all the while kicking your ass for even thinking you can handle the all-female metal group’s music.
The self-titled album slows down for a few minutes (perhaps to let you catch your breath) with the rock ballad, “With You”. NuVynska reminds us all of our first loves, and our true loves.
Can't get you out of my mind, you make me feel alive. You kiss my lips goodbye as if it was the very first time. I wanna hold you close and never let you leave. You’re everything I ever wanted, you make my life complete.
The pace picks up again with "Reborn", and flows right into "Strangelove", which might be my favourite song on the entire CD.
While NuVynska has a very unique vocal style, I can’t help but think of Bif Naked’s heaviest moments during this song. Sylvya definitely knows how to yell. All too often in heavy rock, female singers come out without the necessary force behind their vocals to really make a rock scream sound just right. In the words of HtzFM DJ (and my idol) Kristy Knight, Sylvya “screams like a man”. Don’t take that as offensive, it’s probably one of the biggest compliments for women in the metal genre that there is.
Guitarist Christina Bishop keeps your pulse racing with her heavy riffs and chords accentuating Sylvya’s rises and dips throughout the song. Her presence in every song on the album is well noted. This woman knows how to play, quite easily better than most men I’ve seen.
The album’s track, “Backstabber”, strikes a personal chord with me. One might credit this song to an ex-boyfriend or husband, but I see more. I see a sour and dissolved friendship that lasted 5 years longer than it should have.
I won't let you suck me in, I won't be your sideline fix. Gave you more than you know. I hate you I hope you know. Backstabber, you’re nothing but a liar.
After taking a thrashing over the last 45 minutes, the cd’s ending track, “No Arguments”, slows down and caresses your open wounds … with salt.
Burning lyrics like, “What's left for me to say, we make no sense” , and “I'm tried of all the arguing everyday. We will never be the same, I don't want to play your game” sear into one's emotions like a hot knife through butter, reaching the very depths of one's soul, nailing the sucker right where it hurts the most.
It's no surprise that these girls have grown on me since I first heard of them through a Toronto indie music website. Rock, hard rock, and metal ARE my thing. But there's something very different and distinctive about Scarlet Sins that makes me think that we will be hearing bigger things from them in the very near future.
Good luck with your endeavours ladies! And I can't wait to see you in Southern Ontario later this summer!
Request Scarlet Sins' "Let Go" on Southern Ontario's Best Rock station, 97.7 HTZ FM!! To request online, visit their website.
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