AWmusic

All That Remains is back in action with their latest album Overcome which comes off as a bit of let down and feels like the next band to join the mainstream insurgence straying away from their roots as a pure death metal band.

The Good: good variety of vocals, some great power ballads, some very addicting songs, two songs can be played on Rockband, intense guitar riffs, incredibly fast and thundering drums, amazing solos, great intro song, good mix of softer vocals with more hardcore vocals, good mix of fast and slow paced songs

The Bad: material feels recycled from past albums, some songs on the album generally sound the same, guitar riffs sound reused from track to track, lyrics feel uninspired, each song seems to start the same way, a lot more mainstream

All That Remains has proven to be the Alexisonfire of metal bands with soothing softer vocals combined with the deep booming hardcore vocals they provide a sound that works well together and has spawned four albums, Overcome being their fourth and most recent.

Overcome, while being what’s expected from the band, is mainly a letdown especially compared to their last album The Fall Of Ideals. The overall problem with this album is that everything on this album feels recycled or reused. Everything from the riffs, the openings, and even the music itself feels reused throughout the album or recycled from The Fall Of Ideals. While this may seem like a huge letdown their music is still as good as ever and actually feels a bit more melodic than albums past.

Everything that you would expect from All That Remains has been bumped up another notch; the drums are louder and faster than before, the guitar riffs have been taken to a faster pace. The only thing that has changed have been the vocals which has included a lot more cleaner vocals than ever before, leaving out a lot of the more death metal vocals, adding to similarities between Alexisonfire.

Although a lot of the songs on this album do tend to sound similar in many ways, there are a few exceptions to be noted. The two songs that everyone will remember from this album would have to be the two singles; “Two Weeks” and “Chiron”. Each are equally as catchy and both can also be downloaded for Rockband 2 , where each have proven overly difficult but satisfying to play and sing along too.

There are several power ballads also located within the album that add a bit of a twist to the monotonous album. “A Song For The Hopeless” would be the best example from the album, while it is a mainly a slow song, it does speed up and can have a very heavy sound, making it a power ballad. It’s a great mix of a fast and slow paced musical styling that works very well and delivers a sound of such intensity and calmness that it feels as if this song should be an oxymoron.

The opening song to any album can make or break the entire album and with Overcome the opening song “Before The Damned” definitely helps to draw in the listener and foreshadows the sound of the rest of the album. It’s a very heavy drum and guitar based song that relies on the deeper and more hardcore vocals for the main part of the song with the softer vocals coming in near the end making for one well thought out opening track.

Another great and amazing aspect about this band is the variety of vocals incorporated into their music but sung by only one vocalist, that being Philip Labonte. While this is a great aspect, it’s also one of the things many early fans have started to hate with their most recent releases. As with Alexisonfire, All That Remains started off their first album with purely hardcore vocals, and then with the next release came in more usage of cleaner vocals, and with both their latest albums, the main part of the album is purely clean vocals mixed in with some more heavier vocals creating a much more mainstream sound. This mainstream sound is what earlier fans have started to hate and started to detract from while at the same time drawing in a whole new fan base unfamiliar with their earlier work and will probably stay away from such earlier releases.

The lyrics aren’t much about to brag about either, not bad but not good in all respects. Overall the lyrics on this album just feel really uninspired and forced as if they were aiming for a purely mainstream approach instead of their earlier more heavier albums. Most people don’t tend to listen for the lyrics when it comes to bands such as All That Remains but when you compare they lyrics from this album with earlier releases, you will definitely notice the difference.

Overall this album generally feels like an overly mainstream and recycled album that hints at what future releases shall contain or most likely contain. It’s the end of one band and the start of a new one, going from the early days of pure death metal, to a now mainstream pop hit sensation. Overcome shall hit as a landmark and sparks a new era for All That Remains, but although many aspects were lacking from Overcome it still proved that they could go the limit with their instrumental abilities. Catchy and more melodic, it was not an overall letdown, but they’re will be fans aplenty wishing that All That Remains would go back to their roots, but that is one wish that many will never see come true. If you want a more heavy death metal sound I would suggest either keeping to their earlier stuff or finding a new band to listen to but for everyone else I would say take a chance and listen to a couple songs, you could find yourself joining the now mainstream following of All That Remains.

6.8/10

Chiron by All That Remains
Two Weeks by All That Remains
Before The Damned by All That Remains

Tags: album