All That Remains: The Order of Things review

Melodic metalcore act All That Remains got their start in 2000 when then Shadows Fall singer Phil LaBonte was asked to leave the band due to musical differences, causing LaBonte to focus all his energy on All That Remains, which had just been a side project up until that point. The band’s 2006 album The Fall of Ideals started generating major buzz around the song “This Calling”, then the band broke out big time with their monster smash Overcome in 2008, an album that cemented their place as a force to be reckoned with and are now one of the biggest names in music today. Their newest album for Razor & Tie- The Order of Things is the bands seventh studio album overall and is the follow up to 2012’s A War You Cannot Win, an album that lead singer Phil LaBonte has recently said in the press, “Wasn’t very good,” although many fans might disagree with that statement. The Order of Things was produced by Josh Wilbur (Lamb Of God/Gojira), who also collaborated with LaBonte on lyrics for the first time in the bands history. The band’s four previous albums were all produced by Adam D of Killswitch Engage, but guitarist Mike Martin said, “The band just needed a completely new perspective on things.” That fresh new perspective can be immediately felt on opening lead single and video for “This Probably Won’t End Well,” a song with all the crushing density of a black hole, augmented by an eloquent piano intro. Elsewhere, “Divide” and “Pernicious” are deftly crafted anthems, louder than a mad elephant battling to the death with a pissed off rhino, while “For You” is a timeless and endearing acoustic rocker, underscored by the bittersweet undertones of bassist Jeanne Sagan’s  backing vocals, similar to Stone Sour. Meanwhile, “A Reason For Me To Fight” and “Tru-Kvlt-Metal” are stunning musical propositions filled with the same dramatic twists and turns first felt on tracks like “Chiron” and “Two Weeks, while at the same time “No Knock” and “Victory Lap” are dystopian symphonies built around mechanized rhythms, blistering solos and monolithic slabs of thundering grooves. Where “The Greatest Generation” and “Fiat Empire” tap into the more melodic elements of the Overcome disc and find LaBonte further exploring the range of his clean vocals, the slight rap rock vocal delivery in the muscular verses and the eclectic back n forth from heavy to acoustic in the choruses of “Criticism And Self Realization” bring to mind Mushroomhead, bookending the album with the same atmospheric piano that began the whole affair. Here’s the bottom line- All That Remains are back with a vengeance and The Order of Things is the crowning achievement by the new Royal Blood in melodic American Metalcore. Rating: 9 out of 10 -Eric Hunker