The ABC's of Reviewing Week 18: All That Remains Part 2

Welcome back. Do you see how the world's becoming a better place? I did that. No, we did that.  And we're going to continue doing it. Damn, right.  Goddamn, I'm so horny for each and every one of you right now. Let's tackle this song review.

This week we're listening to All That Remains' second album This Darkened Heart.

There were more than a few changes between the last album and this one. OG rhythm guitarist Chris Bartlett left his brother behind. Bassist Dan Egan also hit the road. They were replaced with Mike Martin (who'd worked with Labonte in Flatlined, one of the bands I recommended last time.) and Matt Deis, respectively.

You'll see in this record why a lot of people call All That Remains a bootleg Killswitch Engage. At this point, they basically were. Mike D made the art for their records. Adam D produced this one. Phil had very blatantly transitioned from only screaming to include singing and gang-vocals. There's double bass drumming and more dual guitar solos. I'm not at all saying that they were trying to be like Killswitch Engage, but if they were they were doing a good job. But I honestly think this was just the natural progression of things.

And Death in My Arms

© Prosthetic Records

This song is pretty decent as the album opener. The solo in this one is really tight. You can tell that things are going to be a little different from last time. There's far less chugging. The guitar tone is much lighter. The riffing is more epic than melancholic. The rhythm guitar is way more distinct and melodic. Phil is rhyming more than before. Albeit incoherently, but still. 

Besides, I hear the incoherent rhyming thing is hot nowadays.

The Deepest Gray

And now comes the most glaring difference between this album and the last. Clean vocals! 

This is the first All That Remains song to feature them. It definitely helps in making out the lyrics. And that's a plus because I don't know what the 'Deepest Gray' is, but if Phil ain't afraid of it neither am I. This was also their very first single and their first song to have a music video. Let that sink in as you listen.

Vicious Betrayal

Pretty heavy intro to a pretty heavy track. That breakdown is something to hear. However, it feels like it's missing something. It could be a little harder. This is the one song it would be appropriate to growl the whole way through and down tune on. I want to hear this track rerecorded. It's got some heavy lyrics and some heavy composition but the production and the execution don't do it justice. It's still one of my favorites off this record, don't get me wrong.

I Die in Degrees

Jesus, Oli had the hands of a demigod. That sweeping riff he does throughout this track sounds amazing. And then on top of that, this track has an awesome solo. That man was a fucking legend and listening to these albums makes me pissed that he was so underappreciated. 

While we're on the topic of Oli, let's get something out of the way. Oli was a secret weapon that could turn a bad song into a decent one single-handedly. I call it the Oli Factor. You won't see me saying it too much during these first few records, but when we get to A War You Can Not Win and beyond, it's going to become part of the vocabulaire.  I'm not just ass-kissing because he's dead, you'll see what I'm talking about soon enough. 

And to be honest, this song kind of sucks apart from the guitar playing. It has the Oli Factor.

Focus Shall Not Fail

Firstly, I love how the intro builds up from slow strumming into fast riffing. And then Phil jets into the song immediately. I don't usually advocate for reading the lyrics while you listen but this one time... These are some of Phil's best lyrics to date. I'm a sucker for positive lyrics in my metal so I fuck with this song hard. This is one of those songs that I hear in the back of my mind when I'm pushing myself through some difficult shit. It's also epic how they play the same riff during the intro and the outro. It makes the rest of the song feel like some kind of epic adventure that ends at the same place it began.

Or ends at the same place it "bag ends". Get it?

Regret Not

This track is an instrumental that opens (and closes) with some acoustic playing from Oli. It's pretty decent. 

I decided that since I can never really rank instrumental tracks compared to the rest of the album I'd just keep a list of all of the instrumental tracks I've reviewed and compare them to each other.

1. "Awaking the Dream" (Aftershock)
2. "Prosperity" (The Absence)
3. "Through the Looking Glass" (Aftershock)
4. "Outro" (The Absence)
5. "Regret Not" (All That Remains)
6. "One for the Ditch" (3 Inches of Blood)
7. "Fade to Black"(Alex Skolnick Trio)
8. "Chief and the Blade" (3 Inches of Blood)
9. "Introduction" (Aegaeon)

This one is somewhat middle of the road. I don't find myself wanting to listen to it over and over like the better instrumentals. But it's not bad or unlistenable.

Passion

Boy, this track is fucking amazing. That intro is eargasmic. The title must reflect what they felt when they were making this song. Phil's screaming is on point. The guitar perfectly compliments it. The drumming sounds uniquely powerful. This song packs a fucking punch.

For Salvation

And the aggression continues! It immediately kicks off like a gunshot. This feels the first glimpse of what the band would become. Phil's signature nasally singing voice makes its first appearance in this song. Along with his trademark scream. This one actually had me opening up a circle pit in the coffee shop I write these posts in. 

 

The untattooed baristas didn't appreciate my energy.

Tattered on My Sleeve

As you can probably already tell, the second half of this album is waaaay heavier than the first half. I'm not sure if this was some kind of weird marketing strategy or if someone did coke halfway through the recording process.

Once again we hear Phil singing as opposed to screaming the whole time. The outro is amazing. It must be heard. You know when you get into the zone playing guitar and you start riffing fast as fuck but you're only hitting like two or three notes? (I'm talking to my fellow noobs in the audience.) That's what it sounds like happened at the end of this song.

But by far my favorite thing about this track is the awkward music video which is the most 2004 soap opera thing I've seen since Desperate Housewives.

This Darkened Heart

Ah yes, the title track. And one of their heaviest to date. Phil damn near starts pig-squealing. On the chorus. The drummer is going ham. I haven't heard this many cymbals on the whole album. Oli is playing some Doom Metal type shit. That outro feels less like a part of the song and more like a personal statement. Because this single indeed fired off their career.

Here's the video in all it's early 2000's glory, MTV2 branding and all.

Final Verdict

Listening to this record feels like watching an epic action movie. It just gets better and better. Halfway through the quality ramps upward. Phil pulls some "I bet you didn't know I can actually sing" shit. The production starts to feel more varied. The drumming and guitar playing gets better. It honestly feels like each song is saying, "That wasn't even my final form, motherfucker! Watch this!" 

I like this record. Admittedly, more so than the last. You can tell that they've grown as a band. They went from a melodic death metal band to something almost entirely unique. There's slivers of a The Fall of Ideals era sound trying to push through. Which I can't wait to tackle. And that's exactly what we'll be doing next week.

See you around, you sexy, sexy devils.

All That Remains Picture © 2004 Prosthetic Records
Bag End Picture © 2001 New Line Cinema
Don Draper © 2007 Lionsgate Televsion
Future Picture © 2019 Epic Records 
Flavor Flav Picture © 2014 Kowarski on Flickr
Future Picture © 2019 Epic Records
Getting Arrested Picture © 2019 Adobe
This Darkened Heart Album Cover © 2003 Prosthetic Records