All That Remains – “Overcome”

Metalcore as of late has been seeing a bit of a downward spiral. Most bands that are now emerging try to veer away from this genre, due mainly to the fact that it is hugely popular and bordering on being considered mainstream. Bands do not want to be associated with any stereotypes or be seen as “one of those other bands!” All That Remains, however, one of Metalcore’s originators, is staying true to their roots while continuing to evolve. Although progress is positive, the band’s latest effort, Overcome, does have a bit more of a mainstream feel.

The disc relies heavily on catchy melodies and clean vocals. The clean vocals are a nice change from the more commonly present screams of past work, but are not what fans are looking for when they buy and All That Remains album. They expect brutality! On ATR’s earlier releases, the instrumentation was leaning more over to Death Metal, with metalcore style vocals. For a twist, the instrumentation throughout Overcome is a lot more melodic with less of a Death Metal influence prevalent.

Thus far, two singles have been released from the album, “Two Weeks” and “Chiron.” Both tracks were released as downloadable content for the video game Rock Band. You know a band is breaking mainstream when their songs are available on a video game. To be blunt, I was disappointed with the vocals. There is progression, but then there is all out changing your sound. Changing too quickly will veer fans away. True it could could also draw in new listeners, but what about the people who have gotten you where you are?

One high point, was the heavy emphasis on guitar solos. It isn’t very common to have a Metalcore band bust out a solo in quite a few tracks. Whether or not this is due to an attempt to sound more mainstream remains to be seen, but one thing is for sure, All That Remains is still a powerhouse. This album is much like modern In Flames, so if you liked the latest In Flames album, or All That Remain’s Fall Of Ideals, then I do recommend this record.  [ END ]

Track Listing:

01. Before The Damned
02. Two Weeks
03. Undone
04. Forever In Your Hands
05. Chiron
06. Days Without
07. A Song for the Hopeless
08. Do Not Obey
09. Relinquish
10. Overcome
11. Believe In Nothing

Run Time: 38:33
Release Date: 09.16.2008