Review of Still Remains - Of Love And Lunacy

In all fairness, I jumped all over this review as soon as I saw it posted even though the release date isn’t for another two months. There has been a lot of talk about Still Remains in the metalcore genre since their EP If Love Was Born To Die came out last year. I really liked that effort and saw that this band had a great opportunity to fight their way to the forefront of metalcore greatness. So here we are a year later, after eagerly anticipating their first full-length debut; Of Love And Lunacy is here and, for the fans of metalcore, it does not disappoint.

I took the first thorough listen of this album with a grain of salt. On the surface it would appear that Still Remains took every good aspect of the major metalcore bands (i.e. Killswitch Engage and Atreyu) and threw it together (which they are guilty of) but they did it with a Still Remains twist. What the hell is that? Well, you have the same melodies, vicious vocals, pounding beats, singing choruses, and even annoying instrumental interludes, but you also have in-depth songwriting and the addition of synthesizers to the mix.

The production of this album is crisp and the musicians are orchestrated perfectly. Vocalist T.J. Miller has a lot of range and sounds like a pleasant mix between Howard Jones (KSE) and Ektor Varkatzas (Atreyu) who I think are the two best vocalists in metalcore today. I was very happy on the whole with drummer A.J. Barrette and bassist Evan Willey. They carried the pounding beats of every song very well on the entire CD. Guitarist Jordan Whelan is a very important component on this CD, even on the songs I didn’t like too much, the riffs helped make them more bearable. Finally, keyboardist Zach Roth is solely responsible for Still Remains separating themselves from the rest of metalcore, if and when they break from the restraints of this genre.

All in all, Of Love And Lunacy is a pretty good effort from Still Remains. Like I said, this is metalcore to the bone, and there are only a couple of differences between Still Remains and the majority of the genre. The scream/sing metalcore trademark, the thumping beats, and the overall appealing riffs are tattooed all over the album. The main thing that separates Still Remains is the use of the keyboards and synthesizers and unlike some other bands (not naming any names Bleeding Through) it's actually successful. If you love metalcore (and especially Atreyu's The Curse and KSE), this CD is for you, but if you are looking for something different and edgy in the genre, keep looking.

Release Details

Still Remains

Of Love And Lunacy

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