She Must Burn is an undeniable mix of extreme speed metal and melodic metal that is probably more attributed to the likes of Evanescence or Lacuna Coil. The mix is interesting, but not too contrived to make it sound like two completely different bands smashed together. We may start sounding like a broken record when it comes to originality, but it really is key to breaking out in this industry, and when you have something as unique as She Must Burn you’re certainly going to be turning a good number of heads.
She Must Burn kicks off with the atmospheric and gothic undertones of ‘Ascension’, before kicking straight into fifth gear with ‘Possessed’, which is a perfect example of the great juxtaposition that the EP creates. The haunting screams of lead vocalist Joseph Louis Sinclair and soft, almost uplifting tones of clean vocalist and keyboardist Aimy Miller stops the band from sounding too similar throughout and just kicks each track into a different direction, or simply mixes up the formula. There are parts, especially in the lead vocals that reminds us of very early Bring Me The Horizon, we’re talking back to Count Your Blessings days.
‘Into the Light’ is a fantastic opportunity for Aimy to highlight her talents, and exists also to show the almost yin and yang nature of She Must Burn. The start of the angelic vocals and more atmospheric feeling the album creates while being sliced with the harsh and black vocals of Joseph acts as a game changer and can make one track seem completely different just from a key change.
The mixture of so many different aspects of metal could quite easily create a horrible brown sludge, but She Must Burn have been smart in hand picking just certain aspects of each sub genre and seamlessly sewing each of them together into their own Frankenstein’s monster of sorts. Let’s just hope this beast doesn’t turn around to bite them in the end.
