All That Remains - The Order Of Things - review
All That Remains - The Order Of Things - review
Band
All That Remains Album
The Order Of Things Style
Melodic metalcore Release date
February 24, 2015 Tracklist
01. This Probably Won't End Well02. No Knock
03. Divide
04. The Greatest Generation
05. For You
06. A Reason For Me To Fight
07. Victory Lap
08. Pernicious
09. Bite My Tongue
10. Fiat Empire
11. TRU-KVLT-METAL
12. Criticism And Self Realization
A review by
Ilham January 13, 2015
I am invoking the wisdom of the Duderino, because I have no idea how to objectively justify all I am about to write. All That Remains moved so far away from the sound that originally made them famous, that I will be bound to use apologetic and vague phrases that both express my lack of love for what I am hearing and yet still admit that I understand how one could like it. It's the most painful kind of review to write.
If you came here with the hope of reading about a return to the glory of The Fall Of Ideals, I'd rather shatter your dreams right away. Basically The Order Of Things is the logical following to A War You Cannot Win. In a sense, it goes even further in the realm of... cheese. So far that the sole "melodic metalcore" tag doesn't really apply that well anymore. With the introduction of some groove elements like in "Victory Lap", less and less growls and violence, the addition of female cleans, the band would be best described as playing Gothenburg-inspired metalcore-ish alternative metal.
Melody is key, and even if most don't feel fresh enough to remain stuck in my head, the whole record appears to have been written with the purpose of making these tunes as addictive as possible. The fact the song structures heavily rely on repetitive bridges and choruses attests of that choice. However, most probably in order to break the succession of Suomi-like anthems, two aggressive tracks were included at the beginning and end of this seventh opus. One of them, "No Knock", is so particularly uninspired, unnatural, forced and ridiculous, I am tempted to compare it to what a better produced Six Feet Under song could sound like. The second, "TRU-KVLT-METAL" shows how ironic it is for these guys to sing about not wanting to conform and "follow the crowd" when they actually ended up sounding like the amalgam of everything commercial and melodic that was released the past decade. Apart from the awful "No Knock", the album flows naturally from song to ballad. The fifty minutes are punctuated by soaring solos and vocals that make the whole experience uplifting and heavy on positive emotions. Unfortunately, the overuse of the predictable structures make the subsequent listens less interesting than they should be.
Sadly, you can already predict my conclusion. It's deplorable that I couldn't find anything else than the usual "if you like this group's new direction, this might be for you" to close with. I personally get my commercial-and-melody-slathered-metal fix in good old Soilwork who display much more punch, or even go back to my teen favourites and blast some emo/screamo. All That Remains hasn't released a bad album per se, but The Order Of Stuff just can't stand a chance compared to their own past, and the new generation of innovative metalcore and post-hardcore bands currently blooming.
Rating breakdown
| Performance: | 7 |
| Songwriting: | 5 |
| Originality: | 3 |
| Production: | 8 |
Written by Ilham | January 13, 2015
Comments
Comments:
12
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 Posts: 18615 |
Posts: 18615
I heard the first track and lol'd. Heard the track on the review and got sad. No way I'm listening to this stuff. 
---- Written by BloodTears on 19.08.2011 at 18:29 Written by Milena on 20.06.2012 at 10:49
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Posts: 1150 Written by deadone on 14.01.2015 at 00:44 The Fall Of Ideals and For We Are Many were quite decent. Not gonna listen to this though. Good review, Ilham  .
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Posts: 5161 Written by Uldreth on 14.01.2015 at 00:45 Indeed this is miles away in terms of... just you know, inspiration - if I had to choose one thing to hold against them. You don't have to subject your ears to it, don't tarnish the little respect you have left . Thanks by the way!
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Posts: 8656
I enjoyed quite a few songs off of both The Fall Of Ideals and Overcome (which I know many people hate) but even on those albums they sound completely unoriginal and merely relying on some hooky riffs and catchy 'moving' vocal melodies, which is fine, when it works I can be a sucker for that kind of thing. But For We Are Many sounded tired to me and whatever the last one was called was just flatter than Parappa. Can't say this review or the linked song gives me enough enthusiasm to try this one out.
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 Posts: 1127 |
Posts: 1127
Shocker. How far these guys have fallen. This Darkened Heart was and still is one of my favorite metalcore albums ever. Fall of Ideals was a strong follow-up. Everything after that was grade-A swiss.
---- Daily underground metal recommendations at Metal Trenches. Watch metal content on the Metal Trenches YouTube Channel.
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 Posts: 7903 |
Posts: 7903
Today only i went their streamed song(on MS) and dang! the whole review dropped in. For what I wasn't expecting - all has come around to that only. The album gettin' 5.6 with absolute everything I despise on metal record. Sadly, ATR's new work landed on it. Honestly? I was really expecting them to bounce back. Anyway, listen up tomorrow.
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| Lit.
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Posts: 6101
And honestly, the only thing that really made The Fall of Ideals such a spectacular release was that it featured the only really good musician they've ever had, Shannon Larkin. They were mediocre at best before The Fall of Ideals (before they hired him), they hired him and recorded a stellar piece of mixed melodeath and metalcore, then they lost him and have been boring and tragic ever since his loss.
---- ~Zep, Former Database and Forum Moderation~ 
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Posts: 57 |
Posts: 57 Written by flightoficarus on 14.01.2015 at 19:21 Yeah This Darkened Heart and the Fall of Ideals were was good metalcore stuff. This a really near review. Gracefully calls out the album for being a sellout without being blunt about it. No Knock is just.. sad. Not the good kind of sad. 
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Posts: 6101 Written by Uldreth on 15.01.2015 at 10:51 Yea, I meant Lucas; Larkin is Godsmack. Oops. 
---- ~Zep, Former Database and Forum Moderation~
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