Review Summary: All That Remains stepped up from "A War You Cannot Win" with this album, but they still haven't proven they have what it takes to remain in the heavy metal genre.
All That Remains began to drastically change their style from rough and tough metalcore to more melodic heavy metal with "For We Are Many". At least, that's what they hopefully meant to do. While "For We Are Many" was a great album, ATR really let people down with "A War You Cannot Win". Instead of giving up on heavy metal and switching back to metalcore, they gave it another shot with their most recent release "The Order of Thing". All That Remains stepped up from AWYCW with this album, but they still haven't proven they have what it takes to remain in the heavy metal genre.
Because I like to end on positive notes, let's start with the negative aspects.
While "The Order of Things" does not necessarily have bad songs, many songs are generally average. Some of the songs don't hold up by themselves, mainly relying on 1 or 2 parts to save the song. Generally the choruses in these songs have the same feel and tone which does not really hook people. Songs are like a story, and an important part of a story is the climax. These songs don't have a great build to their climax (typically the final chorus).
What I believe could fix this problem is by not thinking of a song as a bunch of parts that sound good put together, but as a something that flows wonderfully throughout. This could create a general feel for each individual song and helps with the building up and coming down.
Oli Herbert and Mike Martin are great at coming up with heavy guitar riffs, but they seem to forget about them in the spots that need them most. They often put in a nice subtle melody in these instances, but fail to create a rhythm that really carries the song. That's something they should work on.
Now for the good stuff.
Possibly the best thing about this album are the lyrics. Phil Labonte made a smart move bring in Josh Wilbur to help him write the words. They convey what each song is about and fit together perfectly. With the pleas for love in "This Probably Won't End Well" and "For You" and the middle finger to haters from "Tru-Kvlt-Metal". It was also nice to hear Jeanne Sagan's own vocals on the album.
Jason Costa performs very well on the drums throughout the record. He is able to lay down some double-bass patterns that are just extraordinary and put in some nice fills.
Many of the songs are average, but the ones that do stand out are great and show real promise. Among the top tracks there is "Victory Lap", "A Reason for Me to Fight", and, my personal favorite on the record, "Tru-Kvlt-Metal". These examples are structured well and provides some hope for an excellent heavy metal release from All That Remains.
"The Order of Things" is definitely not the shining example All That Remains should look toward it is an effort that deserves attention and respect.
