Sludge Grrrl Grunge Metal trio ROSY FINCH (2013) are from Alicante, Spain about halfway between Valencia and Murcia on La Costa Blanca. The band had two members fly the nest and now Óscar and Lluis are on bass and drums duty.

Lluis alone bangs the drums to lead off "Oxblood". First thing I notice is the drums sounds good. They are well recorded. The bass strolls after, followed by the guitar and at the 1:20 mark the waltz ends and the square dance commences ... and that is where I notice it. There is something off-pace about the bottom end in this song, the under 80Hz shelving of the bass. I did not notice this listening to 'SCARLET' with headphones. I changed subwoofer settings and nothing I could do fixed the time coherence. By the time Mireia comes in with the vocals the songs sounds like it is peeling apart, bottom end first. I turned down the subwoofer and that improved things ... well, everything except the bass. Sounds like 'SCARLET' has the bass mix centered below 80Hz (most but not all of it) and it is here I notice this timing alignment issue which I recall hearing before on a few other releases. Maybe this sonic mix signature was purposeful, maybe not.

I continue to listen with "Lava" track #2. Mates, this song rocks and is one of my favorites.  "Lava" is a straight up tasty NIRVANA lollipop. Right on ¡! Mireia has her own thing going on stylistically; she periodically checks the grrrrl rawk vox and counterpoint staccato guitar - she is the guitar player as well - with her delayed-in-a-cave solfeggio passages meant to take some of the weight out of the angst colored riot vibe of the songs, not unlike Cristina Chimirri of HAUNTED. Hear this in "Vermilion" track #3 along with her melodic guitar pushing the song in and out and along to the end.  "Gin Fizz" sets me on the edge of my seat with some right agro vocalizing in "suddenly I'm falling faster...". I can attest to the hidden power of the gin fizz, unfortunately. You can expect nothing good from a gin named drink without any actual gin involved. Word.

"Ruby" heads in and out of metal territory before the halfway point where the song gives it up and goes face down into black hole sun dynamics before turning back over to get the other side bronzed as well.  Influences like THE MELVINS and FEAR FACTORY are glowing now. It is about this point that I just listen to the music, listen without my pointy wizard hat on that makes me try and figure out the musical spells of the world ... and it is here that the musical spell of 'SCARLET' comes together for me. "Alizarina" and "Scarlet" wash over me and I am aloft and floating, not consumed by the music like in a concert. No, more like being present inside a gathering where you don't know anybody, nobody seems to be speaking the same language and after a few rounds of "the special", everybody is strikingly on the same wavelength, vibing in the same groove and together alive. Last track "Dark Cherry" takes the music temporarily out before the NIRVANA winged "Lady Bug" caps the release and I am like, shit - where was I for the last 45 minutes?

And as to the bass mix that throws my wee hifi out of the proper time-space continuum, makin' muh head all confusion, mon? It could be a bass guitar delay or maybe gated drum bass trigger with delay... hell, I cannae say. Have a listen and you tell me so we both know. For you cool kids that want some bangin' hang music, check out my Spotify playlist which includes my reviewed bands:

https://open.spotify.com/playlist/272H3UBARsuksY3BqU0CzP?si=OHImXa2sRu-H9fsVKnPtIA