Band:	All That Remains
Album:	The Order Of Things
Style:	Melodic metalcore
Release date:	February 24, 2015
A review by:	Ilham

01. This Probably Won't End Well
02. 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

Yeah, well, you know, that's just, like eerrr, my opinion, man.






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 All That Remains moved so far away from the sound that originally made them famous, that I will be bound to use apologetic and vague phrases that both express my lack of love for what I am hearing and yet still admit that I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.