The Vinyl Spin Debut

Howdy all,

For those who weren't aware, not only was this past Saturday 4/20 but it was also Record Store Day, a celebration of independent record stores where numerous unique vinyls and cds are released.  Wanting to get more into the spirit of things, Durf and I decided to try and launch a potential video series for Brutalitopia entitled "The Vinyl Spin."  

Check out what it's all about after the break (Spoiler Alert: it's about vinyls).

A Brutalitopia Exclusive Interview - All That Remains

Coming off of last weekend's interview with Devin Townsend, Jack and I thought it was pretty surreal that only one weekend after our very first video recorded in person interview we had another one lined up with All That Remains, who were on the last night of their U.S. headling tour here in Chicago.  We had the oppurtunity to speak with one of their guitarists Mike Martin.  The guy was a blast to talk to since we chatted about a rather wide array of things.  Their performance later that night was also pretty impressive to say the least.  I've always heard rather bad things about ATR's live performances but I definitely have not seen any evidence of that yet.  They are taking a short break with this tour being over, but definitely keep your eyes and ears open for more tour news of their's that they will apparently be announcing soon.  We apologize for how bad the audio gets towards the end of the interview.  There was also a meet and greet going on right around us, plus our recording equipment was going a little goofy.  But nonetheless, you can make out most of it. 

-Mick

Review: All That Remains - For We Are Many

    The tagline for this album should be "for we overcame overcome."  While I would say that Overcome was a good album, it still left much to be desired (especially with considering how great The Fall Of Ideals was).  My biggest qualms about Overcome were that Phil either tried to push his vocal limits too much or he didn't use his capable range effectively enough.  Nonetheless, I was still excited about the release of For We Are Many.

   

    With my pre-order of the album I received one of the tracks, "Hold On," which quite frankly scared me.  This track made me fear that this album would mark the band's Avenged Sevenfoldesque transition into the mainstream, assuming the track was an indicator of what the rest of the album was going to sound like.  However, upon hearing the first opening tracks, my fear soon turned into relief.  For We Are Many is a true return to form for ATR.

   

    If I had to sum up this album in one word it would be "balanced."  The music itself is solid and well constructed, which always seems to be the case and has never really been a complaint I've had with this band.  The one exception to this, however, is a overly blatant Bon Jovi type riff that the plagues the end of "Won't Go Quietly."  Phil also found the right balance vocally on this album.  His growls are still as good as the ones that first drew you to ATR.  His actual singing parts are a lot more pure, which is perfectly displayed with "Some Of The People, All Of The Time," and don't seem as forced as they were with Overcome.

   

    I was really glad to hear this album from ATR because, like I stated earlier, it was a true return to form for them.  It's definitley worth the buy.  But for those of you who may just be getting into ATR or aren't completely convinced, I'm pretty sure they're still streaming the whole album on their myspace page.  Check it out!

- Mick