All That Remains “The Fall of Ideals”

By Dr. Monkey • July 11, 2006

Tracklisting:

This Calling
Not Alone
It Dwells In Me
We Stand
Whispers (I Hear Your)
The Weak Willed
Six
Become the Catalyst
The Air That I Breathe
Empty Inside
Indictment

Official Bar Score:

All That Remains really won me over with their previous album “This Darkened Heart” by showing that there was actually some substance to their material, which is more than many of the bands that do similar styles of music can say. While mixing harsh borderline death-metal vocals (though on the song The Weak Willed, there is no borderline) with clean melodic vocals may not be nothing that hasn’t been done plenty of times before, knocking them for using this craft would be the equal of knocking every band that uses a blast beat to start a song.

I have to say that with the Fall of Ideals I have been pleasantly surprised for the second time by this band. Honestly I expected something more melodic and less on the heavy side, and while it can be said that there is more melodic singing than ever on this album, it can also be said that the music is their fastest and heaviest material to date. While heavy + fast do not always equal great, it’s never a bad start.

I hear the mention of formulas all the time when people speak of this band, and sure they do follow a basic formula of sorts, then again what band that is good at what it does doesn’t follow some sort of invisible guideline. It’s called sticking to your guns and mastering your craft, something that the guys in All That Remains are coming closer and closer to doing.

As far as the album, the “single” and lead track off the album “This Calling” in a way takes up right where the final track of “This Darkened Heart” left off. While most of the album is music of a similar nature (not a knock) “The Weak Willed” comes out of nowhere as a track that could easily be featured on a straight up death-metal album. From there the album only continues to stay heavy and hits you with a melodic chorus.

This is All That Remains’ break out album, so embrace it or get the hell out of the way.