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The Charm The Fury

The Social Meltdown EP

Written by: PP on 03/10/2012 03:19:28

The Charm The Fury are an upcoming metalcore quintet from Amsterdam, Netherlands, whose debut EP "The Social Meltdown" is all kinds of awesome despite essentially being nearly a carbon copy of the UK heavyweights in Architects. The notable difference, of course, being that they are fronted by a female screamer in the form of Caroline Westendorp, who gives the vast majority of her male colleagues a run for their money with a thick, decipherable scream that's both rich and charismatic enough to make the EP an interesting listen. No doubt she's a big reason why the band are currently trending in the blogosphere.

She's often joined by male vocals that are slightly harsher and more guttural, which creates an interesting contrast and is one of the reasons why The Charm The Fury are able to create so much melody out of their otherwise uncompromising modern metalcore sound. Of course, she does occasionally shift into clean vocals, and here, too, it's refreshing to hear a female's take on how a catchy chorus should sound like, as you'll hear on "Virtue Of Leadership" in particular. This is a track that'll certainly bring into mind UnderOATH and Misery Signals, both influences strongly audible throughout the album alongside the persistent Architects feel.

Generally, The Charm The Fury side with the more brutal and aggressive part of the metalcore camp, relying on plenty of monotonous screams and dissonant breakdowns as the core of their sound. Fortunately for them, though, there are enough creative passages and dynamic riffs to avoid the generic stamp for the most part, although the deathcore-ish "Dirty South" is a stain on their otherwise clear metalcore formula presented on the other tracks of the record. It's not particularly original by any means, but their take on the saturated genre is pretty good, I'd say.

Download: The Social Meltdown, Virtue Of Leadership,
For the fans of: Architects, August Burns Red, For Today, UnderOATH
Listen: Facebook

Release date 28.05.2012
Self-Released