All That Remains - The Order of Things (2015)^{Release ID: 5441}

I've already mentioned in my last review that A War You Cannot Win is a good album, despite many people thinking it's just terrible emo trash. Well this album, The Order of Things is another one from the band that I still enjoy but some people really hate it. The album shows the band once again moving more toward hard rock/heavy metal while still having some metalcore songs. It's not as awesome as the previous few albums, but there's still some great stuff!

The band, consisting of vocalist Philip Labonte, guitarists Oli Herbert and Mike Martin, bassist/backing vocalist Jeanne Sagan, and drummer Jason Costa, continue standing strong with their seventh album, released in 2015. Josh Wilbur has helped the band with the album production and some lyrical contributions.

The album starts well with "This Probably Won't End Well", beginning with a piano intro (Who performed that... Labonte?), then the heavy guitars kick in at ease. Things grow heavier with "No Knock", an impressive deathcore-styled song with nailing epic hooks. I have to admit, that song shows the band doing a far better job than their old melodeath material. "Divide" is more of a Skillet-like hard rock/heavy metal song with a catchy melody. That's probably one of the first songs where Sagan's backing vocals are prominent, singing together with Labonte in the chorus. "The Greatest Generation" is a great catchy metal song with pounding rhythms, heavy riffs, fast melodies, an easy to sing along chorus. "For You" is a ballad starting with acoustic melody, leading into a slow verse, a deep bridge, and beautiful with Labonte and Sagan singing through heartbreak and heaviness.

In "A Reason for Me to Fight", the thunder rolls (you'll understand that reference in their next album) with double kicking drums and shredding guitars. "Victory Lap" is another heavy rock/alt-metal anthem with easier instrumentation. It's actually the song that got me into this band, thanks to my brother who also likes this band (he likes metalcore as well but when it's closer to his usual hard rock/alt-metal taste). "Pernicious" has some powerful melodic energy with shredding guitars and vocals alternating between Labonte's shouting and singing and Sagan's vocals. "Bite My Tongue" has clearer guitars than drums with a clearer electric guitar jam.

"Fiat Empire" has big slower verses and thoughtful louder choruses. "Tru-Kvlt-Metal" makes you want to face palm over the oddly spelled title. The track itself is cool with all this metal aggression, but the momentum is a little lost and out of place. This song would work better in their earlier albums, not this one. But this is still a great song with their brutal metalcore sound and is one of the album's heaviest songs. At 7 minutes, "Criticism and Self-Realization" is the longest song on the album and probably the longest song ever by the band. This seems more like a two-part suite. The first part is fast and heavy, but at around the 5-minute mark, the song fades out into a mellow piano outro, bringing the album to a calm end.

Besides a few minor flaws and the album not having as much metalcore as their previous albums, The Order of Things is still pretty solid. A good surprising nature that will probably surprise you too. Not everyone might like this album, but to some people like me, it's a rather nice album to enjoy!

Favorites: "The Greatest Generation", "Victory Lap", "Tru-Kvlt-Metal"