Review Fix Exclusive: The Charm The Fury Bassist Lucas Arnoldussen Discusses Band’s New Album

Review Fix chats with The Charm The Fury bassist Lucas Arnoldussen who discusses the band’s new album, “Shade of my Former Self.” Arnoldussen also discusses the thoughts of a possible North American tour as well as his favorite songs on the album.

Review Fix: What do you think the band has learned during the recording of the new album?

Lucas Arnoldussen: I think we learned a couple of more or less important lessons during the recording. For instance, if you think a recording will take a day, take two days. If you think the record will be done in 2 months, take 4. Everything takes longer than you want it to. That can be frustrating at times, but it’s something you’ll learn to deal with eventually. We’ve also learned a great deal about each other. We haven’t been around for that long, and this was the first time we worked together so intensely. We’ve seen some new positive characteristics from each other, and also some negative ones. Which is, in the end, also a positive thing.

Review Fix: What separates you from the myriad of other metalcore bands out there?

Arnoldussen: The first unique thing is kind of obvious: we have a female singer. There’s lots of female singers in metal, but not so much in metalcore. But apart from that, I think have our focus on songwriting. We don’t use breakdowns or blast beats because we want to see mosh or circle pits, but because it actually compliments the song. Of course it’s nice if the audience reacts to that, but that’s not our main goal. Also, we think dynamics are often overlooked. A heavy part kicks in so much harder after a nice and mellow electronic part. Some bands just put breakdown after breakdown. It loses its impact and gets boring after a while.

Review Fix: There are rumors about a North American tour being in the works. Is that a possibility?

Arnoldussen: Well, you said it. It’s ‘being in the works.’ There’s nothing set yet, but we’re definitely planning to come over in 2014.

Review Fix: What song on this album do you feel best captures your sound?

Arnoldussen: I think that would be ‘Virtue of Leadership’, a song that actually comes of our EP ‘The Social Meltdown.’ We liked that song so much. We used it as a ‘blueprint’ for the album. In the end, the record turned out very differently and I think that every song has something unique to it. But to me, ‘Virtue’ is a song that contains every aspect of TCTF.

Review Fix: “In the Wake of Pride” is an interesting track. How was it written, what was the creative process behind it?

Arnoldussen: Mathijs Tieken, our drummer and main songwriter, also composed this track. He’s not just a metal guy; he’s also really into classical music, electronic music and soundscape stuff. You can definitely hear that on ‘In the Wake of Pride’. We wanted a track that would give the listener a break, some rest. With that in mind, Mathijs started fumbling around on his keyboard and came up with this.

Review Fix: How would you “sell” the album to someone who has never listened to you guys before?

Arnoldussen: If you like metal music and you aren’t afraid of a breakdown, a catchy chorus or a screaming lady, you should undoubtedly consider buying “A Shade Of My Former Self.”

Review Fix: Are there any bands you think you’d like to be compared to one day? Why?

Arnoldussen: We’ve been compared to lots of bands: August Burns Red, Architects, Every Time I Die, Underoath. Bands we think it’s an honor to be compared to. I don’t think we have some kind of comparison ideal. In my opinion, the biggest compliment would be that a new band would compare themselves to us. If we can be an inspiration to someone, somehow, that would be awesome.

Review Fix: How do you want this album to be remembered?

Arnoldussen: As the groundbreaking, ear shattering debut album of The Charm The Fury. The album that changed everything: the way we listen to music, the way we play our instruments and the way we look at the world. But if that somehow doesn’t happen: if some people are still listening to this record 10 years from now, I’m a happy boy.

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About Patrick Hickey Jr. 14230 Articles
Patrick Hickey Jr. is a full-time Assistant Professor of Communication & Performing Arts and Director of the Journalism program at Kingsborough Community College and is the chairman of the City University of New York Journalism Council. He is the Founder and Editor-In-Chief of ReviewFix.com. He's also a former News Editor at NBC Local Integrated Media and National Video Games Writer at Examiner.com where his work was mentioned in National Ad campaigns by Disney, Nintendo and EA Sports. Hickey was also the Editor-In-Chief of two College Newspapers before he received his BA in Journalism from Brooklyn College. Hickey's work has been published in The New York Daily News, The New York Times, Complex, The Hockey Writers, Yahoo!, Broadway World, Examiner, NYSportScene Magazine, ProHockeyNews.com, GothamBaseball.com, The Syracuse Post-Standard, Scout.com and the official sites of the Brooklyn Aces and New York Islanders. His first book, The Minds Behind the Games: Interviews With Cult And Classic Video Game Developers was released in April 2018 and is chock full of interviews with legendary developers. His second book in the series, The Minds Behind Adventures Games, was released in December 2019. His third book, The Minds Behind Sports Games, was released in September 2020. His fourth book, The Minds Behind Shooter Games, was released in March 2021. The Minds Behind Sega Genesis Games and The Minds Behind PlayStation Games were released in 2022 and The Minds Behind PlayStation 2 was published in January 2023. Hickey is also a contracted comic book writer, currently penning his original series, "Condrey," as well as "The Job," "Brooklyn Bleeds" "Dem Gulls" and "KROOM" for Legacy Comix, where he serves as founder, owner and Editor-in-Chief. Hickey Jr. is also a voice actor, having starred in the 2018 indie hit and 2019 Switch, PS4 and Xbox One release, The Padre (also serving as English language Story Editor), from Shotgun With Glitters. The sequel, The Padre: One Shell Straight to Hell was released in February 2021- Hickey also served as a Story Editor and Lead Voiceover performer. He has also done narration and trailers for several other titles including The Kaiju Offensive, Relentless Rex and Roniu’s Tale. Hickey is also the lead voiceover performer on Mega Cat Studios’ upcoming title WrestleQuest, responsible for nearly 90 characters in the game, as well as Skybound's Renfield: Bring Your Own Blood, where he voices both Dracula and Renfield, as well as several other characters. He also stars in Ziggurat Interactive’s World Championship Boxing Manager 2, where he performs the VO of nearly every male character in the game. He also worked on the Atari VCS’s BPM Boy.

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