It’s hard for anyone within metalcore to bring anything particularly fresh and exciting to the table this far into the genre’s existence and it’s just this state of stagnation that Dutch mob The Charm, The Fury’s sophomore effort truly suffers from.
Lacking the unforgettable hooks of the more commercial bands of the genre or the riffing ability of the likes of Killswitch and their ilk, what you have here is an avalanche of mediocrity. Leaden fretwork, perfunctory and safe tempo changes, no definable character to call their own and cookie cutter melodic choruses are the order of the day here. Not one single solitary moment of invention or musical star quality exists on this album.
Caroline Westendorp’s vocals lack the power or character of her peers and there’s not one chorus that cuts the mustard on the whole album. The mind wonders just how anybody could get excited by something as mindnumbingly tepid and uninspiringly safe as A Shade Of My Former Self when there’s so much exciting music in the world in 2013.
