All That Remains - Behind Silence and Solitude (2002)Release ID: 5435
All right, I got the Shadows Fall reviews out of the way. So now let's go to their spin-off band, All That Remains! LOL, "spin-off"... I know that's an odd thing to call an associated act, but I don't know what else to call it. I'm sure some of you already know which one of the founding members was originally in Shadows Fall. That's right, the vocalist Phil Labonte! Now that he's out of Shadows Fall, he has more freedom to focus full-time on his own band, All That Remains, another band in my favorites list.
The album is more of a melodeath album with barely any metalcore. You can still recognize the band's signature sound within the simple yet delicate riffing. The production is a bit low, though it gives the album some hollow ambience. I guess that's what you would expect in a debut album recorded in 2000. But the release year? Not 2000. Not 2001! But 2002!! Somehow it took two years to release the album after recording. No idea why, but probably label issues. The album is not really charting or single-spawning but it should please the underground fans. While some songs are longer than in their later albums, the album is a little shorter than those album (under 40 minutes).
The album opens in a great start with two of my favorite tracks on the album, the title track and "From These Wounds". "Follow" is another good one, but Labonte's death growls sound breathy similar to his growls in his album with Shadows Fall, Somber Eyes to the Sky. The guitar solo at the end of the song by the late guitar wizard Oli Herbert, while not the speedy shredding used on later albums, sounds more classical and inspired by Gothenburg legends At the Gates album Slaughter of the Soul.
The tracks that really stand out are "Clarity" and "Erase". They're more experimental (NOT in an avant-garde prog way) that much of the band's later material and best represent the band's powerful musical prowess. However, the songs are lyrically sort of bland and vague, but Labonte's guttural harsh vocals help make them worth the money spent of this album. This should've been what made the band end up in big fame, but their rise to fame isn't until a couple albums later, which is fine with me.
The last 3 songs, "Shading", "Home to Me", and "One Belief" are mostly pure melodeath greatness, especially the last one. All of which fit well in the crushing low tuning of B tuning. Wait, is it really B tuning?? I think it sounds more like DROP B tuning, because that's what they used in their latest heavy metal/metalcore albums Madness and Victim of the New Disease. I don't know, but if you guys know, please put your source in the comments below.
The album is not as accessible as their later works, but it is still a rewarding album to get your hands on, release intense emotion and energy. If you feel like getting a solid melodeath album, this one will never disappoint you. Another melodeath beginning for a metalcore band....
Favorites: Behind Silence and Solitude, From These Wounds, Clarity, Erase, Home to Me, One Belief
