All That Remains

The Order Of Things

Written by: MBC on 26/03/2015 16:15:42

What happened to All That Remains? After having released two genre defining masterpieces in “This Darkened Heart” and “The Fall Of Ideals” a decade ago, the band has not managed to create the same magic on any of their albums, although “Overcome” and “For We Are Many” definitely had some great moments. Their last album “A War You Cannot Win” from 2012 was a subpar release showcasing a fallen giant with a severe identity crisis. Vocalist Phil Labonte has even stated publicly that the album sucked and that their new album would be much better. Unfortunately, not much has changed and “The Order Of Things”, which was released last month, is yet another testament to the unfortunate current state of All That Remains.

One thing that has always been a major part of the band’s appeal is the members’ high level of musicality. However, musical skill is not enough if the songs are not there, which unfortunately is the case yet again on this album. Throughout the years Labonte has been questioned repeatedly about the band’s change of musical direction since “The Fall Of Ideals”. He has stated that he does not want his band to become Slayer and sound like what people expect on every new album. Although it is admirable that Labonte wants his band to keep moving forward and not produce the same albums as ten years ago, it does not excuse the lacklustre nature of “The Order Of Things”.

Labonte is an amazing vocalist, but his performance here is not exactly mind blowing due to the dullness of the material. His growls and screams are too polished and lacking in aggression. Furthermore, they have been toned down to a minimum with most of his vocals being sung melodically. These clean vocals sound uninspired and follow similar formulas throughout the album without any truly memorable melody highlights. The incredible guitar work of Oli Herbert is still present and he does get to show off a few mesmerizing solos and jazzy parts here and there, but most of the time he plays bland metalcore riffs and melodic licks, which is baffling. But it is a testament to the melodic and pop-oriented song writing direction that the band has taken. On their early releases, they managed to balance melody with aggression to perfection, but now it seems that the brutality of songs such as “This Darkened Heart” and “The Weak Willed” is truly a thing of the past for the band. On a few songs such as “A Reason For Me To Fight” and “Tru-Kvlt-Metal” All That Remains show that they can still pull off moments of greatness, but these unfortunately are few and far between, and most of the album consists of bland, watered down pop-metal and hard rock.

As one of the only surviving bands from the NWOAHM-era of the early to mid two thousands, it seems that the best days of All That Remains are behind them and now they are just going through the motions, trying to stay relevant on a constantly evolving metal scene. If they feel that the direction taken on “The Order Of Things” is where their career should be today, then more power to them. However, the problem with this album is simply that it is boring. We all know that All That Remains is a tremendous band that has the chops to create incredible music, but they fail to deliver with this album. These new songs are not bad, they are just not very interesting.

6

Download: Divide, The Greatest Generation, A Reason For Me To Fight, Tru-Kvlt-Metal
For the fans of: Avenged Sevenfold, Godsmack, Five Finger Death Punch, Bullet For My Valentine, Times Of Grace
Listen: Facebook

Release date 24.02.2015
Razor & Tie

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