Scarlet: At The Mountains of Madness
Rock and metal fans love to categorise. There’s endless conjecture out genres, sub-genres, and who fits in where and who doesn’t. With Sweden’s SCARLET, those notions can be thrown right out the window. Though many would put her in the incoming class of nu-metal/nu-core artists currently setting the latest comeback in heavy music, her debut record, Obey The Queen, is a genre and mind-bending grand tour through darkest corners of group leader Scarlet’s mind, and then down further into the shadows of those corners, where only the most disturbing things hide. It’s an incredibly diverse record that perhaps is one of the best embodiments of the creative fluidity that metal has been embracing lately. It’s got loads of groove and heaviness, but also black humour and a huge sonic palette full of staccato guitar and electronic textures.
“I have a twisted mind, I have a little schizo in there,” laughs Scarlet. “I don’t consider myself a musician or an artist, I just put out what’s inside of me. That’s why the record and my vocals are so diverse, because I am in that manner. It’s interesting for the listener as well.”
Getting to the level of darkness and pain expressed on Obey The Queen took Scarlet to some of the darkest places she has ever known. Unsolicited sexual harassment, murderous serial killers, death, female oppression in the workplace; these are heavy topics expressed with pure vitriol and spit from the mouth of a woman who has absolutely had enough. But as heavy music has always served as a connection cord and healing balm to the suffering, Scarlet knew she was literally suffering for the well-being of her audience.
“I wouldn’t say that I was mentally stable for the writing and recording of this album,” she says. “It was horrible, actually, but if I didn’t get so honest and raw, it wouldn’t be right. I hated it most of the time, and I drank a lot of alcohol. I tried to survive it and I did, but there was never an option to quit. But I am still recovering. I’ve never done this before and I heard it was supposed to be hard, but the core goal was to help people. As you’ve seen, I’m not interested in showing my face and being recognised in public, but this is my way to help people, our fans, who struggle every day.”
Self professing to not listen to music much at all, Scarlet pulls more influence from figures like LADY GAGA to craft the theatricality of her delivery and performance as well as her stage show. The album is a testament to that theatricality, with Scarlet’s voice seamlessly transitioning from piercing screams to crooning singing to what can only be described as “creepy little girl” voice, but in each scenario, it absolutely works, especially on certain songs that call for creepy factor on the album like Zodiac and Devil Twins, two songs that touch on murder and killers. It’s a pure horror show in the best way. “I come from a dark background and a dark life, but I try to find context in a song people can relate to. I wrote a song like Zodiac, about other things but the Zodiac killer was a good manifestation of what I was trying to write about,” she explains, adding with glee. “When we do this song live, we bring a guy on stage and put him in a chair and beat him and pour blood over him.”
Continuing to elaborate on the nature of her live show, Scarlet professed her ethos to give audiences an assault from all angles to allow them to take away whatever they choose from the spectacle. “In 2020, people have such short attention spans,” she explains. “If you give them only music or something visual, it doesn’t grab people but when you put those two together, you touch on all the senses for the audience. It gives them more to be inspired by. We want to touch on all the senses so the audience can decide themselves what they want to feel or see or experience.”
Just as important as the sound of the record is its message and the connection it forges with SCARLET’s audience. Social media and contact with fans is extremely important for Scarlet, and the messages imbued in the record speak directly to the issues of sexism and empowerment that so many struggle with today. Having planned for audiences for live shows like most artists, the time during the pandemic has been difficult for the band, but despite the darkness encased within the new album, Scarlet hopes that when this difficult era comes to an end, humanity may learn from their own darkness.
“I hope people care more about each other when this is over,” she says. “That is something we try to engage our fans to do and we write about that a lot on our social platforms. That, I think, will be changed by our world situation, but during this time, each musician can take the time to perfect what we want to say and how to perform it. It’s a time for reflection.”
SCARLET is living proof of the bold new era metal is finding itself in, and she is quickly growing to become the dark and mysterious frontwoman that this new era needs. Her record is captivating in nearly every way, as is she. There is a sense that in time, her impact will be felt in the metal community in a big way. And when shows do come back, how is SCARLET planning on making their grand re-entrance into live music? She simply laughs and says, “I know we’re going to build something with a lot of fire and cool outfits.” Sounds like just what’s needed.
Obey The Queen is out now via Arising Empire.
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