Skarlett Riot – “Sentience” [EP] [Album Review]

Skarlett Riot have been a familiar name on the UK rock circuit for some time now with a number of solid releases under their collective belts already. Their latest offering, Sentience, sees them continue that theme by giving fans five balls-to-the-wall rockers as a showcase that there is still much gas left in their tank.

While the spine of their sound is built around that British modern metal blueprint of galloping riffs and big punchy melodies (see Bullet For My Valentine as a good starting point), the quintet scoop a good dose of that arena-filling American modern rock sound (see Avenged Sevenfold) into the mix. It’s not something we haven’t heard a million times before and there are undoubtedly hundreds of bands peddling similar material to tracks like “Scream At Me” across the UK pub circuit every night of the week to barely a handful of people. What makes Skarlett Riot stand out, though, is vocalist Chloe who injects the sound with a real snarling attitude that raises the temperature a degree or five.

If ever there was the perfect match made in heaven/hell, this could very well be it. Feeling like the final piece of a jigsaw, her powerful, thundering vocals compliment the cocktail of British gritty rock perfectly. At times similar in style and attitude to Maria Brink, Chloe delivers a flawless performance that simple elevates this band to a level where they’re becoming simply impossible to ignore.

Sentience Track Listing:

01. Voices
02. Scream At Me
03. Angry Inside
04. Feel
05. The Wounded

Run Time: 21:00
Release Date: April 29, 2016

Check out the track “Voices”