Looking back at some of my reviews of 2008 I can’t help but express how much I hate doing reviews sometimes. Sometimes you get excited for a newly released cd and love it for the first couple listens. Some are great cds with good sound but then later on you read what others stated in their reviews and second guess your own opinion. Some are great at the first listen but don’t hold a lasting effect that a good cd needs in order to make it a truly good release. Some take some time to sink in before you actually really start to enjoy them and some are immediate favorites. Some leave you wanting more in the manner that the entire CD is great and you want to hear more from the band and some leave you wanting more in the manner that there were only a few good songs and the rest fall really short and feel like fillers. Below are some reviews that I look back at and don’t quite feel the same as I did when I reviewed them and some I still hold firm.

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Just a reminder that I am running two contests right now. One for a signed/used guitar picked from Opeth’s Fredrik Akesson, and the other for a copy of All That Remains soon to go gold album, Overcome. Click on the links below and enter the contest.

Win A Signed Guitar PIck From Opeth’s Fredrick Akesson

Enter to Win All That Remains Overcome

Image Sources: (guitar pick Metalmartyr.com) Album image from Amazon.com

I have a copy of All That Remains new album Overcome. It’s an open copy because I had intentions of getting it signed when I interviewed ATR last month. Unfortunately that didn’t happen, but it’s still in mint condition and can be all yours. All you have to do to win is name your favorite ATR song and tell me why you dig that song in the comment section below. Contest open to US and Canadian residents only. Only one entry required but it doesn’t hurt to comment more than once. I’ll pick a winner on November 28th. Enter now!

Also today kicks off All That Remains tour with headliners In Flames and label-mates Gojira, with 36 Crazyfists opening the show. You can check out a tour poster after the fold. Overcome has sold more than 70,000 copies in less than two months since it’s release on September 16th.

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Mass-Metal band All That Remains just finished up the first leg of their tour in support of their new release Overcome. Next week kicks off the next leg of their North American tour as direct support for Sweden’s  In Flames with Gojira and 36 Crazyfists opening. After that it’s off to Europe to co-headline with The Haunted with support acts with Johnny Truant and Deadlock. Tour dates are below. You can read my interview with Mike Martin and Oli Herbert here and check out a few photos from their live show in Richmond VA.

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As I stated in my last interview with Trivium, the tour manager had some issues with her laptop so there was a lot of waiting around for her to try to get my interviews. I even saw Phil about 10 minutes before my scheduled interview with him and asked him if it was cool to try to get the interview even though the tour manager wasn’t around. He said that he had just woke up and wanted to get something to eat. I was totally understanding and about 20 minutes or so later, the tour manager showed up and I talked to her about my scheduled interviews. I waited around a little while longer and finally got the interview with Corey from Trivium. She said that she would try to get me in with Phil and I waited around for about an hour longer before finally saying screw it and went to get my tickets and photo pass. At the beginning of 36 Crazyfists set She texts me and said she could get me in with Mike Martin so I agreed figuring it was better than no interview at all. She took me up and to my surprise I got to speak to Mike Martin and Oli Herbert as well. They were watching the World Series play-offs, being Boston Red Sox Fans. Oli looked like he was feeling pretty good, but said that he was still recovering from the night before from drinking after they played New Haven Connecticut.

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Things didn’t go quite as planned last Saturday at the All That Remains and Trivium show. The tour manager had some issues with her Mac-book that had to be resolved and it through off my interviews. I didn’t get to interview Phil Labonte as planned but I did get to speak to Mike Martin and Oli Herbert, which was cool too. I did shoot about 200 pictures of the band during the first 3 songs. I was shooting a lot because we were not aloud to use flash so I had to get the settings on my DLSR just right and shoot as much as I could because you never know how the lighting is going to turn out and you only have the first 3 songs to get shots beyond the barrier. Here are a few shots that I got. I’ll be transcribing the interviews in the next few days. Trivium pictures will come later or tomorrow. More pictures after the fold…

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I’m heading out to see All That Remains, Trivium, 36 Crazy Fists and The Human Abstract tomorrow night in Richmond Virginia.I have an interview with Phil Labonte and Corey Beaulieu, so I’ll try to get those transcribed and posted sometime early next week. I’m excited to interview Corey and hopefully I can get a bit of swag from both bands for give-away. Of course if you’re a loyal reader (and comment often), your chances are better than others.

This is my second interview with Phil and he’s a really cool guy so I’m looking forward to hat again. So here is video block of everything All That Remains. I kind of wish they did videos for a song or two from Behind Silence And Solitude.

I was listening to this song earlier today and remember someone saying on another site that this song is complete garbage. Maybe I just like this band enough to not think that. I don’t think it’s the best song on Overcome but I don’t think it’s garbage at all. It has a pop-ish chorus to it, but other than that it’s still a solid song. I guess haters will be haters. God knows I’ve done my share of hating but I like to think it’s for the right reasons…even when it’s not. Oh well. Enjoy the video and let me know what you think.

The first week of sales for All That Remains Overcome looks pretty good. They deserve it as much as they tour and the minimal amount of time they take off. We’ll probably get the official Billboard or Soundscan reports early next week.  Blabbermouth Reports:

“Overcome”, the new album from Massachusetts metallers ALL THAT REMAINS, is on track to sell around 25,000 copies in the United States in its first week of release, according to Hits Daily Double, the companion web site of music industry tip sheet HITS. The CD is being streamed in its entirety as part of AOL’s “Free Full CD Listening Parties.”

That’s pretty good considering that The Fall Of Ideals sold about 13,000 in it’s first week. Any musicians that tells you that they don’t care about cd sales is a liar. Phil Labonte said recently on his Myspace blog after Overcome was leaked “I don’t think I’ve ever made a dime off a record sale. And I can’t stop it anyway so why worry about it?”. But that doesn’t mean that he doesn’t care about record sales. In the October issue of Decibel Magazine Phil had this to say:

“In a way, I feel sorry for labels,” Labonte Concludes. “In the past, they could get some idea of how well an album was going to sell based on past performance and recent concert turnout. Now it’s just get that f*cker out before it leaks and hope to hell somebody buys it. Sales are less about acquiring a commodity and more about fans showing support. I’m grateful as hell for every CD we sell. By the same token, I have no problem with people downloading our stuff. I play shows for a living.”

Just a few things to close out the week. It’s been a hectic two weeks here but some good things have come about. This week has been a very busy run-around week and I haven’t been able to post  as many good quality posts here. With the server issues finally being ironed out from the beginning of this month to the stupid pop-ups being fixed, this whole month has been kind of crazy. Not to mention both of my kids got sick last week so my hands have been pretty full. Hopefully next week things will run a lot smoother. Much more after the fold…

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