Rise To Remain: “Fact Of The Matter Is, Dad Is Still A Rockstar”

If your dad were a rockstar, what would you want to do for a living? You are not constrained by the budgetary and job squeeze concerns in today’s unpredictable world economic climate, and the “paper chase” is not really relevant to you, since why should you give a damn about whether HR personnel from typical companies think you’re a worthy human being based on their judgment of your personal worth in mere GPA points? You can simply tap into your rock-star dad’s reservoirs of cash and already established reputation to do whatever you want (like going on a world sightseeing tour and ending it off with a space shuttle flight to the International Space Station)!

Come June 5th, 2012 Century Media Records will be releasing Rise To Remain’s debut album, City Of Vultures, in North America (originally released on September 5th, 2011 in the UK and other non-American countries worldwide by EMI Records). Having been praised by various notable outlets such as Metal Hammer and Kerrang! as being an excellent, up-and-coming act, Rise To Remain have certainly made a name for themselves in the quick 6 years since their inception. While it is true that they play a catchy and easily likeable brand of melodic metalcore (popcore?) that is up to date with the “-core” culture of today’s modern metal youth, one still cannot help but wonder about the possible reputation boost given by vocalist Austin Dickinson’s superbly famous dad, Bruce Dickinson of the titanic British heavy metal legends, Iron Maiden.

Rise To Remain’s music is, honestly, nothing new. When Century Media’s official press release statement describes Rise To Remain as “One of the most exciting new heavy metal acts to come out of the UK in quite some time…”, you know it’s the PR blood in them at work again. This brand of highly-polished metalcore filled with infectiously pop-worthy clean singing and the occasional guttural growls sure as hell isn’t new or “exciting” from a critical point of view. Older bands such as Sonic Syndicate and Shadows Fall are also currently doing it, and even younger, less well-known acts such as Dead By April have been doing it for nearly as long too. Similar to what Angry Metal Guy said about Kickstarter, perhaps the success of bands like Rise To Remain lies in the fact that – whether Austin Dickinson denies it or not – one of their members are of a star-powered lineage which inevitably puts them at a more advantageous standing than other bands in the same genre and of a similar quality. We all know how the melodic metalcore style is overdone and done well by many bands, but not many of them make it to major labels.

Forget about the fact that Century Media Records is releasing Rise To Remain’s debut album in North America for a moment, and zoom in on the fact that Rise To Remain was signed by EMI Records in March last year. Think about Iron Maiden and EMI Records. See the link? Iron Maiden have been with EMI Records since forever, and both Iron Maiden and EMI Records are from the UK. Rise To Remain are from the UK too, so what are the odds of there being a band playing in the same style and at the same standard as Rise To Remain residing in the UK, trying to get onto EMI Records’ roster, but getting rejected (possibly repeatedly)?

Check out the song: “Talking in Whispers”

Considering that the UK has a population of more than 60,000,000 people, it is very likely that such bands getting no headway with their dreams do exist, and in fact, this also highlights the earlier musing that Rise To Remain probably got to where they are today partly due to Austin Dickinson’s famous dad; so yes, logically speaking, a virtually unknown melodic metalcore band playing in the same style and at the same standard as Rise To Remain could be THE Rise To Remain in a parallel universe where one of the members has a rockstar for a dad too. Like it or not, and deny it or not, the harsh truth is that talent and cashing in on the latest music trends are no longer guarantees for landing record deals with major record labels. In today’s over-saturated melodic metalcore market (or any other mainstream metal markets for that matter), one has got to have that extra boost, and what better boost than having a famous rockstar for a dad?

Notice how Austin Dickinson is the face for the band too, as evident from his center positioning in virtually all of the band’s promotional photo shoots to date, and also from the fact that he is the most sought after member for magazine interviews and other such press opportunities. But Bruce Dickinson Jr. is not even one of the band’s main founding members! Ben Tovey and Will Homer are Rise To Remain’s two main founders, and yet their very-obviously-lacking-in-the-“Dickinson”-surname names are already making you go, “Who the hell are they?” While certainly not completely indicative of a marketing ploy to cash in on Austin’s star-powered lineage, this observation certainly does provide one with some food for thought on the ever commercial nature of the mainstream music industry.

Rise To Remain’s music is entertaining and memorable, but certainly not original and groundbreaking in any aspect. To top it off, the band name, album title and track names all contain simple words and cliché references to beasts, strength and perseverance; and the cover art is bland and unexciting too. How this slightly above-average melodic metalcore band quickly rose to such prominence and high marketability within 6 years is frankly not surprising if the above conspiracy theory is true, and if it is not, the major record labels should perhaps start scouting their next Rise To Remain from, err… …everywhere. Good luck with that.

Check out the song: “The Serpent”