For more than six years now, All That Remains lead singer, Philip Labonte, has been screaming like a man with his fingers caught in an iron door. All the same, he's never claimed he doesn't like melody. In fact, his favorite songwriter is Sammy Hagar. So, maybe it shouldn't be too surprising to hear his voice swooping through the band's new album Overcome (which comes out Tuesday) like a dove circling a demolition site. and there's plenty of screaming as well -- actually, he claims 70 percent of the vocals are screamed -- but it's those towering melodies that stand out most.
Coupled with classical-based guitar harmonies and exultant fist-in-the sky riffs, Overcome is a well-crafted, sonically pristine album that could bring All That Remains out of the underground and into the mainstream.
For old-school fans, this raises a dilemma of sorts. The songs are heavy, sure, and catchy as the flu, but they're no longer rooted in the bipolar, emotionally maladjusted world or metalcore or the brutality-is-king domain of extreme metal. Not that All That Remains were necessarily aiming for major radio airplay. If you believe Labonte, the sound of Overcome just sort of happened without any preconceptions or gameplan. And while it was a bitch to create all those layered vocals, powerhouse rhythms, and delicate arpeggios, the pains of their creation paid off. For those willing to accept a bit more sentimentality with their metal than they may be used to, Overcome is a dynamic slab of granite than carves new paths as it crushes.
In our weekly podcast interview, HeadbangersBlog.com talked to Labonte about the eclectic songwriting on the record, the emphasis on melody and the band's experience working with wingnut producer Jason Suecof. In the process, Labonte addressed the current economic climate, the basic code of morality mankind seems to have forgotten and the misconception that All That Remains is a Christian metal band. Click "more" to stream or download the podcast.
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