Last week, we learned about the untimely passing of OLI HERBERT as a result of an accident at his home in Connecticut. This news came as a shock to the metal and rock community because the band just got off tour and so many of us had recently seen him on stage. ALL THAT REMAINS was in Dallas late last month so it seemed unfathomable that he had passed away. As we grieve as a community for the loss of this incredible musician that has influenced so many players over the years, we often wish we could do more for the family and friends. We can. With their new record set to drop on November 9th, we can help OLI’S family and the band by all of us coming together and purchasing the record on Nov. 9th. Hell, buy 3 if you can!
And you won’t just be helping – you’ll be getting an amazing record to boot.
Now that you have a tiny dose of what the band has been doing since 1998, let’s just jump right into VICTIM OF THE NEW DISEASE, because like I said in the first paragraph, these guys don’t mess around; right out of the gate, they attack you with FUCK LOVE! Alright, let’s do this… -but for this review, I wanna give each song a Cherri Rank. Each song gets a cherry from 1 to 5, with 1 being the Negative Nancy score and 5 Cherries being the Best Song(s) on the record (🍒🍒🍒🍒🍒 = Mega and 🍒 = Not my Bag, Baby). Alright, finally sheesh! Let’s do this, track by track – ready? Here we go!
Cherri Meter: 46🍒/50🍒
- FUCK LOVE – BOOM! Right outta the shoot! This opener is a guttural and natural response or release of some heavy AF feels that sew themselves up into your skin. Rapid fire from the kick and guitars like the sound of pellets hitting a metal wall which eventually melt into a final release at the end. #Startling. 🍒🍒🍒🍒🍒
- EVERYTHING’S WRONG – somewhat softer side of ATR at the intro. The melody digs in with clean vocals that don’t shade the bright light of reality. Nice guitar solo, OLI HERBERT. #SelfReflection. 🍒🍒🍒🍒🍒
- BLOOD I SPILL – sludge to doom. Deep growls in the dark try to cover up the bright and clean vocals that are victorious in matching the intensity of the screams. Totally dig the presence of awareness. #Growth. 🍒🍒🍒
- WASTELAND – immediate pulse picker-upper. Sick shreds from both OLI and MIKE. Guitars that drop into a harmonious, hammerfall reminiscent of theatrical metal. This story has all the makings of a best-seller from the twists and turns it takes with tones, gurgles, and thunks on the bass. #NothingIsForever 🍒🍒🍒🍒🍒
- ALONE IN THE DARKNESS – an anvil drops from the top of a cartoon drawn mountain, where I’m drawn in, it lands right beside me. Without touching me, the vibrations from this ballad in a bottle, pop out like a genie but the wish isn’t just for me, it is everyone’s wish at some point in their lives. The weight of the scales are side by side, balanced with the acoustic and electric guitars. Humans feel so much sometimes, this song feels it for everyone. #weareallalone 🍒🍒🍒🍒🍒
- MISERY IN ME – big and boisterous hooks grind into the dirty-toned guitar solo. Percussion keeps up with the pace that is somewhat deceptive – but evident with the duality of vocals. The deception is that on the outside, things might look on the level, but inside those masked feelings are what is being screamed out as loud as that damn inner-child can scream as he or she bangs on the window hoping someone will hear them! Killer bass line, AARON! #lovetheinnerchild 🍒🍒🍒🍒🍒
- BROKEN – pit-perfect track that will get a crowd to stir some of that mess around a little. The tempo vs the verse is waged on a battlefield. There might be some hope tucked in there before that breakdown. Or is that hope something just to carry us to the next freaking painful moment? #Temptress 🍒🍒🍒🍒🍒
- JUST TELL ME SOMETHING – Jebus. There is a change at the chorus that I swear, I almost vomited after it played the first time, it’s so good. You know that wave of emotion that literally moves your stomach or weakens your knees? Ya, that one! The vocal emphasizes that shift we feel as the ground under us moves, or buckles our knees, from some cataclysmic shift or change of mind. I’m afraid to listen to it again because it is all too familiar – but I will. “I’m easy to betray…” MF’ers with that chorus that is emotionally replicated like a virus – this song is hands down, in my Top 3 Favs of the year. No joke. PS – there’s a guest vocalist that’s featured on this track – and if we were sitting face to face, I’d say, “Guess who it is!” and then you’d say, “I don’t know, just tell me.” and then I’d say… Oh ok, it’s DANNY WARSNOP, front-man for ASKING ALEXANDRIA!!! There is magic in this duo that creates kryptonite and cripples the listener like an MK Ultra mind trick. #amazing 🍒🍒🍒🍒🍒
- I MEANT WHAT I SAID – guitars haunt and waft through the vocal line, like a fleck of dust in bright light. The tempo is strong and words are ordered by something invisible driving force. I dig those builds right up the chorus’ piehole! Some massive truths in the lyrics set up by the girth in PHILIP’S vocal. Commanding track. #commando 🍒🍒🍒
- VICTIM OF THE NEW DISEASE – echoes or elements of DIMEBAG’S style are evident in the lead guitar and solo. Not to mention there is a thwank to the rhythms that reminds me of that Texas Metal, you know the kind that makes you do that dance that looks like a big buoy bobbing in the ocean with the beat of the tide? That one. The drums dig in all the right places. #wearevictims 🍒🍒🍒🍒🍒
There you have it my Lovelies! That’s the whole kit and kaboodle of the new record by ALL THAT REMAINS! It’s a huge winner in my book, honestly. Briefly, lemme tell you why I say this, mmkay?
A couple of decades ago, industry standards in music frowned upon a band showing diversity in their songs. A band needed to keep the public engaged with the music that the fan expected from the band. If a band decided to off-road on a song or two labels and A & R people would shake a finger and say, “Shame on you for stepping out of the box you are in (or were put in)! Get back in that box and do what you do!” Ok, so I don’t know for certain they said that exactly, but bands didn’t for whatever reason.
Now, diversity is almost a necessity for artists to have and develop. ALL THAT REMAINS is diverse in songwriting, and ways they can bend their signature sounds to flop like a Slinky onto landing pads of other sub-genres. Trending in tours, are lineups that have a slightly different sound that’s placed them in a particular category (or their fans have put them in and coveted them there) but have some definite crossover attributes.
So let’s not beat around the bush with this one, ok? Go out and buy this on the 9th or now if you can pre-order. Victim Of The New Disease via FEARLESS RECORDS | RAZOR & TIE. It’s the band’s 9th studio release and these fellas have zero stranger danger when it comes to feeling comfortable within their art.
More about ALL THAT REMAINS: The band’s bio reminds us about the Massachusetts Metal Rockers and their knack for writing the music that they do, “As a result, they’ve outlasted trials, tribulations, and trends to stand tall as one of this century’s most consistent purveyors of heavy music with a bulletproof canon of arena-worthy anthems. ALL THAT REMAINS’ discography is highlighted by success at Active Rock including radio hits in the top 10 such as “Two Weeks,” “What If I Was Nothing,” and their first number one “Stand Up.”
I mean, obviously ALL THAT REMAINS (ATR) doesn’t have any issues with getting right to it on their upcoming release of Victim Of The New Disease via FEARLESS RECORDS | RAZOR & TIE. It’s the band’s 9th studio release and these fellas have zero stranger danger when it comes to feeling comfortable within their art.
Til Next Time – MLMR – Cherri
