All That Remains - The Order Of Things

All That Remains

The Order Of Things

by YngwieViking at 09 March 2015, 11:01 AM

Behind the popular semantic formula and the rhetoric arguments, I should add that the politically correct mandatory behavior is slowly about to kill the freedom of speech in the civilized world, by reducing the ideas to some stretch of vocabulary… I'm not taking the defense of Mr Labonte's awkward declarations but the new one way thinking method is quite dangerous and reveal of the absurdity of this ultra-high- communication-dependency society where finally the words are controlled by a supposed moral compass…

Leaving all the trendy controversies and the demagogic indignations behind, let’s make a short analysis for their seventh CD ”The Order of Things” :

If this new album seems to be more commercial than the successful “A War You Cannot Win” ,in fact I believe it’s mostly its logical successor, once again ALL THAT REMAINS had taken once more all those heterogeneous elements and up to a new level of perfection… From the intrepid “No Knock” to the super Melodic headway of “A Reason For Me To Fight” the whole spectrum of the sound of the band is displayed here, maybe the summary of the whole album is at the superb closing track “Criticism And Self-Realization”.

The ironic thematic about the so called elitist metal fans and their venomous words behind their laptop on “Tru-Kvlt- Metal” is clearly a big middle finger to the conformity of the purist narrow minds and agree or not also one hell of a Metal track!

This fresh attitude initiated with “…For We Are Many” (2010) on the songwriting formula is giving the privilege to ALL THAT REMAINS to reveal more density in the violent moment and a more mastered melodic delivery elsewhere, notably in the vocals (in “This Probably Won't End Well” Phil Labonte reminds me of Seb Bach) and their improved harmonies.

This new perspective will surely not please the retrograde fans of “The Fall Of Ideals”, but clearly the band has adopted a new progressiveness in their sonic identity, obviously enhanced superbly by the powerful dynamic of the Josh Wilbur's (LAMB OF GOD/BLACK TIDE) production.

Of course, the formatting and the structures are a little predictable, some radio friendly titles as “Divide” or “Victory Lap” are not in concordance with my proclaimed theory, but anyway the fifty minutes of running time are punctuated with an ambitious focus on music… The haters will hate!

With an increased quality in the lead vocals parts plus a still highly demanding/rewarding precision is the Guitar/Drums synchronicity wrapped in a new development gain in the songwriting method, this lead me to say that “The Order Of Things” is a damn recommended album!