All That Remains - Madness (2017)

This is a fitting album title for the Americans of All That Remains, because it feels like they are completely lost right now, going through everything and nothing all at once. For each album released, the band have leaned more and more towards a very mainstream friendly sound, but they are still clinging on to that corest of metalcore that once made them famous. So with one foot in the past, and one in the present, they take on the future with their 8th studio record.

Knowing what the band has done in the last couple of albums, I expected failure from the start, but "Madness" opens up in a surprisingly strong way. Okay, "Safe House" is pretty meaningless metalcore screaming for three and a half minutes, but it is a heavy start with some really nice instrumentation, almost resembling more of a hardcore sound even. The title track follows, and it has some interesting moments, being decently catchy. However, it is the third song "Nothing I Can Do" that really catches my attention, mostly thanks to the mysterious keyboard during the verse and Phil Labonte almost trying to do his best Tommy Giles Rogers impression. I would have loved it if they took those elements even further, but they did not, settling for a fairly safe chorus and a typical song structure. Still, a really nice song that ends a surprisingly good three song start. Shout out also to song 5 "Halo", classic ATR that I wished we heard more of.

After that though, the album plummets towards the depths of mainstream despair, and the schizophrenia symptoms are fully shown. "Madness" consists of a total of 13 songs, in which at least 3 are straight up generic ballads (which in my opinion is at least 4 too many). I will never understand what the purpose is with these songs being in a metal album, they just take up space. They are even worse here, displaying as one end of the giant spectrum that All That Remains plays in this album. There is literally no consistency to be found here, and it does not help when the lyrics are so shallow and dumb, almost at an embarrassing level.

It is certainly a shame, because it feels like the band is trying to go for a new approach. They have been stomping in the same spot for quite a few albums now, so to hear them doing something different is refreshing in one way, but when the quality is not improved, then it just does not matter all that much. There are so many songs that are just bare bones, having no creative meat in them what so ever, and the few songs that are of any worth are unfortunately few in number, not nearly enough to save the album. So even if "Madness" is different from its brethren, the result is more or less the same still.

I am not gonna say that I am surprised over the bland quality of this record, I more or less expected it to be this poor, but the fact that the band still has not fully decided on if they are a full on metalcore band or a more radio friendly rock band is simply mind boggling, like they want to keep all of their fans by doing everything at once. It just does not work that way. Even if I appreciate that they are trying to evolve, they are doing it without any real focus, with little quality to back it up. My hopes are still with this band that they can come back with a new killer record, but that hope is fading in a steady pace, as steady as their decline. So good marks for effort, but the originality and general quality still needs improvement.

Songs worthy of recognition: Halo, Nothing I Can Do

Rating: 4,5/10 Open Graves

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More reviews of All That Remains
A War You Cannot Win
The Order of Things

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

All That Remains - A War You Cannot Win (2012)

What does it take to become a band of legendary proportions? I think that you have to have at least these five factors. 1. A huge fan base. 2. Consistency. 3. Make great live performances. 4. A good band chemistry. And 5. an urge to keep challening and evolve the music your creating. All That Remains has all those factors... except the last one. Ever since the amazing "The Fall of Ideals",  which contains three of the best songs from the 21st century ("Six", "This Calling" and "Not Alone"), All That Remains has just been stomping in the same spot for the last 4-5 years. The albums "Overcome" and "...For We Are Many" was dull and so far from groundbreaking as you can get. I hopped that "A War You Cannot Win" would show that the band still has something new to offer the world. I was wrong.

"A War You Cannot Win" is just like its two predecessors. Good in production but horrible in innovation. It is deja-vu through the entire album. In other words, IT'S BORING!!! But I gotta say that the album started promising. The songs "Down Through The Ages" and "You Can't Fill My Shadow" is some of the better songs from the era after "The Fall of ideals". Good structures and some good singing. Unfortunately, they can not hold up the entire album.

The rest of the songs should not even be mentioned. Those tracks has dissapointment written all over them. No innovative riffs, no great build ups and it does not even feel like the band is trying. They are just running on stand by. I have nothing against any of the band members but for god sake show some balls. Try a different angle. Think outside the box. Do something completely different. Just stay out of this line and take another direction. One thing you could try is to have one song with only harsh vocals. Try to show more of that hard side.

I think this is the last album from All That Remains that I will listen to (if I do not decide to listen to their previous albums again). The band must make some drastic changes to get their carrer up and running again. As it is now, the band is just stalling and living on previous merits. So come Oli, Philip, Mike, Jeanne and Jason. Time for you to shake things up.

Songs worthy of recognition:  Down Through The Ages, You Can't Fill My Shadow

Rating: 4/10 Non-believers