I really didn’t like the break-up of As Friends Rust. With an overkill of emo type melodic hardcore bands out there, what this world needs are bands that are truly capable of being different than the rest. That said; let me introduce you to Cast-Down: A melodic hardcore band with a rock twist from Belgium. Using the vibrant melodic elements from bands like As Friends Rust (on their album Won) or Grade effectively and spicing it up with decent rock sounds (is that The Cult I hear in “Lights Ahead”?) and some Belgian flavour. Hard to explain, but if you listen to a band like Soon you might understand.

The 10 tracks on Recharge The Muses shine with melodic guitar work, with every chord in just the right place. Check out “Recharge The Muses” and “Throw Us In The Mix”. This goes hand in hand with a solid production in which there’s ample room for guitars, bass and drums. Unfortunately singer Tim’s vocals cannot keep up with the instrumentation.

Especially in the cleaner parts he fails. His strength clearly lies in the screams and outbursts in the songs; check out tracks like “Fire Song” and “Nightcrawlers”. On the other hand, a track like “Chemistry In The Works” would have been so much better if the vocals had more soul, more personality.

This is not a band with sheer emotional outbursts. Cast-Down is about putting all the emotions in balance, using striking hooks and melodies, especially in the riffs. The band gives plenty of variety on Recharge The Muses, putting the album above average, and they surely combine several emotional elements in songs that manage to ring through for quite a while. But if Cast-Down wants to grow to the next level, right there where they can make the difference, Tim’s clean vocals will have to improve. For now they won’t do, leaving you with a lot of potential but no winner. Too bad.