All That Remains - The Order of Things (2015)

I feel like I should explain myself on why I am reviewing this album. It is not because it is made by a "hot" mainstream band and I do not feel obligated to review it just because I reviewed the band's last album. I review this album since All That Remains was one of those bands that I grew up with during the late 90's/early 00's, one of the bands that got me into metal in the first place. I will always have respect for the band and what they have done in the past. So the real reason to why I am reviewing "The Order of Things" is that the band has been a small part of what have made me to who I am today.

More about the album then, "The Order of Things" is album number 7 by the Americans and the follow up to the very disappointing "A War You Cannot Win". And unfortunately, this album is not much better. The band is still stuck in the early 00's and in the sound that once made them famous, but the youthful spark they once had is just completely gone, making the music boring and bland. It doesn't matter if you are good at what you are doing when you are doing more or less the same thing over and over again.

The band does try to expand their sound some in this album, but it just doesn't work out at all. The song "No Knock" is a desperate attempt to try to sound heavy, with low riffs and straight out harsh vocals, but instead it backfires, showing that the band does not know what they are doing at all. It is just a slow grind fest to show off how heavy the band can be, and nobody really likes a show off. And there are more strange decisions that plagues this album, like who came up with the song titles "Fiat Empire" and "TRU-KVLT-METAL"? It just boggles my mind that someone would actually use those titles (unless you are actually sponsored by Fiat, which I highly doubt All That Remain is).

The only really good thing with this album is that is, just like all the other All That Remains efforts, fairly catchy. It is easy to follow with the simple song structures, which does make the music a good starting point for younger listeners. But as soon as those newcomers starts to find heavier, faster and better things in their search for new music, these songs will be left forgotten. There might be a chance that they will still remember songs like the groovy "Divide", the double bass friendly "Pernicious" or the Rise Against speedy "Bite My Tongue", but I cannot imagine that they will stay as favourites for too long, especially if those young kids get a hand of the most famous All That Remains album "The Fall of Ideals" that contains so much better music.

I hope that the band does the thing that the last song in "The Order of Things" tells them to do, and that is to take the criticism and start to get some self realization, that they are not what they used to be. The band desperately needs to find a new direction that fits them, because this bland sound has gone on for long enough. This music was new and exciting back in the day, but now it is just sad to see these guys playing and realize that they have had no progression what so ever. "The Order of Things" is a marginally better release than "A War You Cannot Win", but it is still a boring ass album that I just want to throw it in the trash can. And I just cannot help but thinking that this is the best we are going to get from these guys, which just saddens my younger self.

Songs worthy of recognition: Bite My Tongue, Divide

Rating: 5/10 Fiat Empires