ALL THAT REMAINS

ALL THAT REMAINS struck gold with 2008's "Overcome". Though it boasted a very thick coat of polish, the band's ability to pen well-balanced, catchy and heavy tunes shone through above all else. Springboarding off the attention they garnered from their breakout release, "The Fall Of Ideals", the Massachusetts-based metalists landed comfortably within the boundaries of mainstream metal and they show no signs of leaving anytime soon.

A logical extension of its predecessor, "…For We Are Many" uses a formula very similar to that heard on "Overcome". The scream/sing/scream vocals are commonplace throughout the disc's twelve tracks and there seems to be one of those rhythmic "chuga-chuga" riffs (or breakdowns, as the kids used to call them) around every corner. Yes, it seems that ALL THAT REMAINS knew better than to mess with a good thing, but this isn't really a case of playing things safe either. A noticeable dose of the Swedish-styled melodic death that permeated from the band's early days brings a much needed shot in the ass to this disc. Aggressive melodeath collides with a PANTERA-inspired groove on what is easily the album's heaviest hitter, "Dead Wrong". Nearly matching said aggression is the title track. Everything about this song screams "metalcore," but it's hard to argue with a well-written song and that's just what this is. "Aggressive Opposition" is another one that delivers plenty of razor-edged riffing and guttural vocal excursions, but it's also a song that hinges on the edge of predictability. What a song like "Aggressive Opposition" does best is serve as a bridge between the album's yen and its yang. Where "Dead Wrong" is sure to get the blood boiling, calmer, more emotive moments like "The Waiting One" and the radio/arena ready "Hold On" have a very different effect on the psyche. Said tunes, along with "Keepers Of Fellow Man" and "The Last Time", show ATR's desire to break away from the constraints of modern metalcore and evolve into a beast unto itself. In many ways, they've done just that. The band's penchant for writing catchy tunes oozing with melodic hooks, searing leads and metallic riffing coupled with the ability to expand upon a familiar sound without even coming close to abandoning it leaves "…For We Are Many" an album that the dudes in SHADOWS FALL and KILLSWITCH ENGAGE should be envious of. I'd be remiss if I didn't mention Oli Herbert's oh-so-tasty talk-box solo at the end of "Won't Go Quietly". Said section delivers one of the disc's most memorable moments, it's just too bad they had to rely on a generic fade-away to end the song.

It seems simple enough, take a batch of ear-pleasing tunes that have one foot in the pit and the other in the arena, polish them off with stellar production and you've got one of the year's best albums, right? Not exactly. While I struggle to find anything overly bad about this record and many of Phil Labonte's melodies and Herbert's shredding are (at times) the stuff of legend, something seems to be missing here. Maybe it's that this particular style is starting to play itself out or maybe ATR is just striving too hard for rock superstardom, but there's thin layer of blandness that blankets the album as a whole. The songs are good and the performances are second to none, but this just gets less exciting every time I listen. I guess that's the difference between a good album and a great album.