All That Remains - Fall of Ideals
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Free Music Notes for Fall of Ideals
Free Music Review: Metal Perfection
Hit: 5 Stars
I am new to all that remains and i love this album this is the best album of all that remains by far! Sure this Darkened Heart is an awsome album but this is incredable.Free Music Review: Masterpiece.
Hit: 5 Stars
This is a metal masterpiece. Plain and simple. If you love metal--buy this album. Excellent!!!Free Music Review: metalcore at its finest
Hit: 5 Stars
all that remains brings metalcore back from the brink of collapse.Free Music Review: A Stellar Album is All That Remains
Hit: 4 Stars
I first caught All That Remains when the group opened up for Arch Enemy in late 2005, and I have to say that for a band that had escaped me for some reason until that night that I was glad to be able to correct the error of my ways. The group recently ended a string of successful touring spots and has just unleashed "The Fall Of Ideals" on an unsuspecting Metal world. It's a killer release by the Massachusetts based "Metal core" labeled band, and it is so good and heavy that they actually transcend that aspect of the genre and should be referred to more as a Melodic Death Metal act. When I listened to the album for the first time I immediately thought along the lines of music that is found in bands like Scar Symmetry, Soilwork and Mercenary for those in need of an example. It is a great transition if you think about it, for there are too many Metal/Grind core bands around right now and most are less than stellar at what they do. Instead of bold experiment they simply choose to remain the same. As a listener, this makes them harder to differentiate and overall boring once you hear too much of the same old thing. Musically, All That Remains will show that they are not strictly a "core" level band either as each member of the band shows a level of musicality that will impress fans of heavy music and also those that lean more toward the Progressive end. It's a change that the band has consciously aimed for; citing that "this is a new way to look at an old friend". I truly believe that we need more friends like this in Metal. The use of melody should not make you think that there is no punch to them for opener "This Calling" begins with a double bass run that will knock your teeth out. Drummer Shannon Lucas should be complimented for his skills on the album.
The band is made up of Phil Labonte (vocals), Mike Martin (guitars), Oli Herbert (guitars), Shannon Lucas (drums) and Jeanne Sagan (bass). Labonte is known to many already, as he fronted the Metal band Shadows Fall before Brian Fair took the spot and progressed the band into their future. It was a side project with Oli Herbert but like many good things became something entirely different. While Labonte does the required growls to perfection, the standout part for his voice to me would be his strong melodic vocal input all over this album. It takes the material to a different level, because I feel many listeners are getting worn on the growling as the whole song. Thankfully there is an even mix in almost every track along with shredding that will peal the skin off your bones. I liked too much of the album to sit and denote track for track but a couple of more impressive ones were "It Dwells In Me" and "We Stand". All That Remains is on a great path with this album and I think going forward I would like to see more of the melodic vocals and have the Black style compliment them instead of vice-versa. Its time for a new wave of American Metal to begin and All That Remains seems very ready to lead this charge.
Free Music Review: Enjoyable, if not identifiable
Hit: 4 Stars
All That Remains' second release, 2004's "This Darkened Heart," should have been their breakthrough. But it wasn't. So, perhaps in an attempt to cross over into the mainstream finally, the band added a substantial amount of more melody to their follow up, "The Fall Of Ideals." But, even though it's up for debate whether All That Remains wanted to expand their fanbase or just expand their sound (and not make a "This Darkened Heart" rehash), there's almost no denying that "The Fall Of Ideals" is a changed sound.
There are positive and negative aspects of this newfound melody. On the plus side, there are quite a few more catchy, memorable, and infectious choruses. But, since about every song has a cleanly sung refrain, ATR now sound quite a bit less identifiable and more like an Atreyu, Caliban, or Killswitch Engage clone (it's only a coincidence that KsE guitarist Adam D. produced this disc, though.) But there are ample aggressive guitar riffs and raging yells on here to prevent All That Remains from completely redefining their sound. And, to their credit, this band is capable of adding melody to their metal without having to haul out the acoustic guitars for a cliche interlude or album closer.
"This Calling" is a good example of these songs' structure: a heavy intro with long, almost emo-like screams leading into the verses (consisting of rapid, punching riffs, hard-hitting drums and throaty yells), segueing into a soft, gentle chorus with limpid singing, and concluding with a mini guitar solo. This is a good song which comes together well, and the pleasant-sounding chorus serves as a nice break from the throaty yells. But after listening to this formula again for another five--or so--tracks, the listener longs for something to break up the repetition, because the songs have become kind of predictable. But, fortunately, there are a few songs which are completely heavy: the fast, pounding "We Stand," the scorchers "Six" and "Become The Catalyst" (which have fiery, chug and churn, dual guitar leads and almost thunderous rhythms), and the quick, bruising tenth track, "Empty Inside," are all full-on metal assaults without any vocal pleasantries. And there's a lot of heavy stuff to go around, here, so no song ever has too much melody. Plus, the whole album is less than forty minutes long, so it doesn't overstay its welcome and/or become repetitious to the point of being intolerable.
So you could call this disc somewhat formulaic, but if you take every song individually, the formula works very well, so why tamper with it? All in all, "The Fall Of Ideals" does stick out in this band's discography, but it isn't very identifiable in this genre. But even though it won't go down in history as a modern metal landmark which knocks down any walls, and it won't be heralded as the album which put All That Remains in the same league as, say, Shadows Fall, any metalcore fan (or ATR fan) would tell you it still makes for a good, mostly satisfying listen.