There seems to be a lot of great talent coming from the Chicago area lately. But then again, maybe that’s nothing new! Losing Scarlet definitely turned a lot of heads with their raucous debut album “Left to Burn”, and now they are back to rock us even harder with their new album “Learning to Bleed”. Fronted by the highly energetic and exceptional vocalist Jodi Kell, Losing Scarlet are a tight four piece outfit that has managed to deliver two great CDs while being together for only a few years. That’s quite an accomplishment. Combine that with their hunger for playing live gigs, and you have a pretty dedicated, hard working band.

This new release falls somewhere between an EP and a full album, as it has eight tracks on it, and in this case it’s a great example of quality over quantity. This is a compact album that is bursting at the seams with high energy, super quality hard rock. “Learning to Bleed” offers some improvements over the band’s previous album, such as better recording and production and a more cohesive sound over all, and it definitely rocks much harder. Also I find Jodi’s vocals seem much stronger, and I think she really brought her singing abilities to a new level. This album is really well mixed, with all of the instruments coming across very clearly. Even with all the high powered guitar riffage going on, you can hear Jodi’s vocals punching through no problem at all, and the overall sound is well balanced.

I must say I’m glad I was strapped in when I started up my player to listen to this album, because the first track (also the title track) hit me with quite a blast. Starting with some tasty riffs from guitarist Scott Haith and then a good wail from Jodi, the song breaks into a solid hard rock number typical of the entire album. The second song “Halo of Stone” has a great flowing energy that carries you along for a thrilling ride and “Shameless Prayer” is just a superb metal tune with hammering guitars and a deceiving softer vocal intro. “Dick Whiskey” is another great rocker and Jodi really pulls out all the stops with her powerful, soulful voice on this one. Scott has an uncanny ability to come up with really fabulous guitar riffs, and Petra (bass) and Shawn (drums) keep everything super tight.

The metal mayhem continues on for the rest of the album, and the track ”With This We Fight” is a standout song for me, with it’s choppy rhythms and very melodic vocal melodies. The closing track “The Afterglow” is possibly the most sophisticated song on the album, with a slower pace at first, allowing Jodi to use a smoother vocal style for a while, before the song gets into more of a metal groove later on.

Basically, this is a killer hard rock album, and I have to congratulate the band for a really fabulous job on this one. It was an absolute joy to listen to these eight awesome tracks, and the band obviously put a great effort into making them the best they possibly could. I’m going to be playing the heck out of this album for the next while.

  © John Davies 2011