Scarlet Rebels turn up the guitars and take a harder look inward on Flawed By Design, a fourth album that puts personal doubts and public frustrations within shouting distance of a big rock chorus. Across the album, the Welsh quartet pursue a straightforward goal: give listeners something to sing along with, and something to think about afterward.

Hailing from Llanelli, South Wales, Scarlet Rebels have steadily expanded their reach. Their 2022 album See Through Blue reached No. 7 on the UK Albums Chart, while 2024’s Where The Colours Meet followed at No. 15 and topped the UK Rock & Metal Albums Chart. For singer and guitarist Wayne Doyle, drummer Gary Doyle, lead guitarist Chris Jones, and bassist Carl Oag, that success raises the stakes for an album they describe as their most introspective yet.

Working again with producer Chris Clancy, the band lean into the enduring appeal of strong melodies, expressive vocals, and guitar parts that serve the song. Wayne’s touchstones include Bruce Springsteen, Tom Petty, Foo Fighters, and early Bon Jovi, artists who understand how a memorable hook can carry a complicated feeling. That approach informs the album’s deliberate nod to the ambitious melodic rock of the 1980s, with an emphasis on songs that have something to say beneath their sizeable choruses.

Lead single “This Is Happening Now” directs its frustration toward the people making decisions that shape everyone else’s lives. Its accompanying video plays with the gap between public authority and private uncertainty, questioning how much confidence listeners should place in the polished figures appearing on their screens. The song gives the album’s broader concerns a clear target: a world in which ordinary people live with the consequences of choices made far above their heads.

The questions become more personal on opening track “God’s Honest Truth,” whose lyrics supply the album’s title. Written as Wayne grappled with the loss of a friend, it examines faith, human imperfection, and the difficulty of reconciling suffering with the idea of a higher power. Elsewhere, “Don’t Look Down” and “Chains” carry the band’s melodic drive, while “Stuck” brings a darker emotional shade to the record.

For Scarlet Rebels, the ambition is to make that emotional connection travel as far as the guitars. Flawed By Design gives their growing audience plenty of room to raise a voice, while leaving space for the uncertainty, grief, and frustration that make those shared moments matter.