GENRE | POWER METALCORE
VERDICT | THRASHTASTIC GLORY
LABEL | RAZOR AND TIE
RELEASE | 11.6.12
All That Remains, like their Masshole brethren in Shadows Fall and Killswitch Engage, have been toying with crossover success for a decade-plus. This one—the sixth from the Springfield-bred band—has
a slew of alt-metal hits that could launch them from Hot Topic chart-topper to modern rock smash.
Purist blog trolls are surely eviscerating vocalist Phil Labonte for this diversion, but I’d point them to the punishing title track, the violent “Sing for Liberty,” or the intense “Down Through the Ages,” that embody the band’s patented hardcore-meets-infectious power-metal style.
They take their anthemic brand of metalcore to arena-rock levels on a string of cuts,
like triumphant rawker “Stand Up,” and metallic ballad “What If I Was Nothing.” With Killswitch’s Adam Dutkiewicz producing, Labonte proudly tosses aside preconceived notions of what the all-ages union hall circuit thinks his band should be. Instead, ATR make their band exactly what they want it to be: a melodic, metal machine.
Coming a long way from the deathcore of their 2002 debut, ATR has been walking a fine line between underground stars and arena famous for years.
This album could push them over that line—with their integrity, guts, and glory all firmly intact.
