Female-fronted bands are treated as "new" and "trendy" nowadays, certainly with bands such as Nightwish, Jinjer, modern Linkin Park, and many, many more. Should it be that way? Personally, I don't think it should be the ONLY standout of your group, but in a male-dominated field, it couldn't hurt to point out. Anyways, one of the latest women-led bands to cross my vision is the Norwegian-based alt-rock outfit Glasgow Kiss, fronted by vocalist Charlotte Marlen Midtun. Glasgow Kiss doesn't want to be put into a musical box, as their sound ranges from powerful and heavy to alternative and poppy. Well, if their December 2025 album "Down In Flames" checks off all of those boxes, it'll be a cool listen for sure.

My first audible experience of these guys is their first single, "Those Wasted Years." The track is a hard rock track with plenty of melody and room for vocalist Charlotte to belt and soar. The instrumentation is straight-forward and pretty basic, also like the song structure: a verse-chorus-bridge-chorus structure is used, and works fine to get the melody stuck in your head. Charlotte takes on some harsher vocals as the song nears the end, where the riffs get a bit heavier to accompany such vocal delivery. Harsher in a screechy sense, not guttural. An effective track that elicits nothing beyond the music itself. The other single, "Forsaken" adopts a sound of a past time; poppier, groovier guitars, simple melodies, and a impenetrable feeling of freedom and such. Admittedly, it gets the head banging, and I can see arenas loving this type of metal. Me? Not so much yet. There's still plenty of music left for me to go through, so I'm not judging too harshly yet.

Splitting the album up into two parts is usually how I tackle formatting, but since half of the second "half" of the LP was taken up by the singles, I'm tackling the rest of the songs in one chunk. The album opens with the hard-rocking, motorcycle-racing, chain-smoking hard rock that saw major appeal at a time I wasn't even alive in. The attitude in the opener "Destiny" shines through, but it's the only thing shining in terms of wow factor from Glasgow Kiss. "Down In Flames," the self-titled track, starts with some metallic bass that soon fades in and out of the song's mixing. Shuffling and intertwining guitar solos of yesteryear bleed into the song, with a tone that could bring back memories of the 80's with ease. "On Your Own" is evidence of Glagow Kiss trying out some sort of a rock ballad, as the tempo slows down and the vocals feel more heartfelt. I think this song would've been a great single actually, and I found it quite enjoyable compared to what I've heard so far - lyrics aside. "The Wall" is everything BUT a tribute to Pink Floyd. More simplistic playing, lyrical content, and overall feel. "One Last Time" introduces the piano for another slower song, and boy does it remind me of Bonnie Tyler but a little heavier. I chuckled writing this because I'm positive that was not the sound Glasgow Kiss was aiming for at all... The album rounds out with "Put the Blame on Me." Bombastic opening sequence aside, I yet again get the usual mix of heavy rock.

As I stated before, this is rock made for the stage, the arena, and the average listener. "Down In Flames" is a fair collection of bare-bones hard rock. I'm really not impressed with the package as a whole, but I can think of some standout moments. I can see where Glasgow Kiss gets their poppy persona, and possibly their alternative aura, but beyond what they say they are, I can't rant and rave about this album. I guess it kind of sounds like Within Temptation? Maybe?