Review Summary: [Not] Everything’s Wrong.
Metalcore purists at heart were shocked to hear of the passing of All That Remains’ guitarist Oli Herbert. Having laid the very foundations of the band’s framework alongside vocalist Philip Labonte in the form of
The Fall Of Ideals and fizzled shortly after that. The sheer quality of All That Remains’ music suffered greatly, never picking up the same steam, save for the occasional stand out track.
2018 is an arguably big year for All That Remains. Despite the fact the band lost its guitarist mere weeks before the album’s official release, the record’s singles showed surprising promise. “Fu
ck Love” brought back memories of
The Fall… days, not just in stylistic fury but also in quality. The riffs, the screams, the furor are well placed and it would seem that All That Remains were making a comeback at last. It was a feeling short lived unfortunately as more of the band’s less than middling content arrived in the form of “Everything’s Wrong”. Now Labonte’s cleaner vocals have always been one focal point of what’s “wrong” with All That Remains’ soundscape, but it’s the cheese and over saturation that make one problem so significant. “Everything’s Wrong” exemplifies that very point, drumming the listener with the same problems found within
A War You Cannot Win,
The Order Of Things and the aptly titled
Madness. It’s just a wonder why it took until the band’s ninth outing to demonstrate the sounds fans have been begging for since
...For We Are Many and
The Fall of Ideals.
Admittedly, there are a few gems here and they may even go as far as saving this album from being a complete waste of time. But here’s the rub: for every track that redeems on the All That Remains “legacy” there’s the likes of “Everything’s Wrong”, “Just Tell Me Something” and “I Meant What I Said” that try their hardest to railroad what would otherwise be a concise, organic (and well received) album.
Victim of the New Disease is a package complete with the best and worst of what All That Remains can offer. As much as the fans would love to give Oli a free pass, it’s hard to dismiss this album for what it actually is. The late Oli and co. present equal parts cringe and fierce heyday quality with both sides of the proverbial coin that becomes increasingly noticeable on repeated listens.
With any luck All That Remains will call it a day on the back of losing a primary songwriter while on a slight comeback in terms of musical quality. It’s certainly sure that
Victim of the New Disease will not be the band’s master stroke, but considering what we’ve had to put up with these last few years from the All That Remains camp, I’ll take
Victim of the New Disease with a grain of salt.
