ALL THAT REMAINS | Victim Of The New Disease | Album Review

There is a lot of hardship currently facing All That Remains as their ninth album "Victim Of The New Disease" gets released to the public. Less than a month ago, we were given tragic news that guitarist and founding member Oli Herbert had passed away due to an accident that took place at his home. Whether or not you have been focusing on All That Remains for their entire career or just got into them with newer material, it's always tragic when a band member passes away especially while an album that's being put out is still fresh. As a small preface, I will let it be known that this will not influence my overall opinion of the album but it is noteworthy to bring up. As for my experience with All That Remains, I initially was a fan during late 2012 and early 2013 as I was just beginning my venture into heavy metal with metalcore, but this band wore out their welcome in the coming months for me with several albums that I feel didn't have any depth to them despite having potential in the musicianship ("Overcome" and "A War You Cannot Win" being prime examples). And also, vocalist Phil Labonte himself didn't really make matters any better with a vocal style I didn't care for and having very questionable opinions on things. The only album that had some sort of truly positive impact on me was "Madness", their previous album, as I truly felt that had more variety and consistency in what was being performed. With "Victim Of The New Disease" we get a much heavier album that is reminiscent of earlier works, which could have potential given the fact that there are definitely key factors in this band that could make a heavy album work well, but is this it? 

Coming only a short amount of time after the release of "Madness", we got a new song back in September that showcased the band still had some of their roots left in them with "Fuck Love", which kicks off the album. The riffs and drumming definitely have a presence on this song and Oli Herbert and everyone else in the backing band do their job fine, and as an album opener it is sure to be considered a solid way to kick off an album, but what really kills this song is the lyricism and Phil's performance. Of course, bearing a title that explicitly alludes to a profanity-laced track, the lyrics (especially in the chorus) make this track unlistenable for me. There is definitely no substance to this song and while luckily this is the only really awful song on this album, it truly bears that label because it is an egregiously painful song to get through in one sitting. Like I said, none of the material gets that bad, with proof of that being a lot more evident in "Wasteland", the other pre-released song I got ahold of before the album's release. This song is actually somewhat okay for a heavier ATR song. Sure, you do get the typical tropes of a song of its nature such as heavier verses and Phil's higher range vocals which are used to divide each verse and chorus. But even though this song isn't really great or fantastic, it is not that bad and I can tell that there is at least a tiny modicum of consistency and structure to this song, especially the chorus. It's still a track that has elements that desire to be fleshed out and looked at a bit more but as a song, it's okay. 

When this album was first being teased by Phil Labonte, which was before any of the tracks even released, the overall tone of the album was described as being "angry" which alluded to the heavier styles. Truth be told, this album isn't as reliant on complete heaviness like albums like "The Fall Of Ideals" or "This Darknened Heart", but instead tries to mix that in with melody when it comes to most of the choruses and the two softer songs on the album "Alone In The Darkness" and "Just Tell Me Something" featuring guest vocals from Danny Worsnop of Asking Alexandria. This is similar to the albums that garnered them some attention on rock radio and by the public in the first place, but I feel most of the material on this album is built a bit stronger. "Blood I Spill" begins on a somewhat cheesy route with Phil screaming "1, 2, 3, go!" and some expected verse patterns but gets much better in the end when Phil actually does an alright job at closing the song off. "Everything's Wrong" is actually a pretty solid track with some good riffs and that aspect is pretty much the highlight of the album. Even some of the ballads work, especially "Alone In The Darkness". The problem is that some of this is stuff we've heard before from this band. Songs such as "I Meant What I Said", "Broken" and "Misery In Me" have somewhat generic melodies and while I don't think any of these are terrible songs, they aren't really anything to write home about. Even the title track gives off the vibe of not doing anything really different or remarkable, and it's material like this that really just exists in my honest opinion. 

Overall, I definitely had a better experience with this album than I thought I was going to. I'm not exactly saying that this is a record I will pick up as soon as possible and truth be told I really don't desire to pick this album up at all. But, as an All That Remains album, "Victim Of The New Disease" is put together a little bit more cohesively than much of their past work. The album does feature some diversity to it, but there are still some unremarkable moments in my opinion. But it's not really an album that will annoy you all the way through with the only instance of that being in the first track. After that, the album gets to a serviceable level where I get why people enjoy this side of the band so much. With tracks like "Everything's Wrong" and "Alone In The Darkness" that stand out well on this album, there is proof that Phil Labonte and the gang DO have ability to actually write and construct something decent out of what they're working with. Out of all of the heavier albums whilst taking "Madness" completely out of the picture, I have to say that this disc is probably one of the more cohesive out of those. It's nothing that makes it an Album Of The Week or anything like that, but I am still not kidding when I say this is not bad. If you're a fan of All That Remains and enjoy "Fall Of Ideals", you will probably like this album a lot and that goes for every fan of the band. This certainly won't completely win over outsiders like myself since there are flaws, but it is once again an adequate enough experience. I am curious to see what the band has in store for us after this and what trajectory they will choose, but as for this album, it's fine. Completely fine. 

RATING: 6/10 

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