And now for something completely different. I know that this blogpost probably won’t interest any of you, but this is my blog and I want to vent somewhere. Or wait, it’s not really venting when you proclaim to be a fan of something or someone, right?
Anyway. My point is, tonight I heard the a song of the new album of All That Remains, “For We Are Many” (it’s the title track). If you’ve been listening to me babble into cyberspace for the past… I don’t know, five years? (and you’re STILL HERE?!)… or something, then you probably know that I consider “The Fall Of Ideals” (released in 2006) by All That Remains one of the best (probably the best) metalcore album ever made. It’s just that every song strikes true with me. My moment with ATR’s Jeanne Sagan during their gig in the Melkweg was one of the things that inspired me to pick up a bass guitar. But then there was their album “Overcome” in 2008 and… well, there was nothing really wrong with that album, but it just didn’t vibe with me. It was a letdown. The sound wasn’t what I liked, even the quality of the recording kind of sucked.
And you know what the difference was? The producer.
And once I started paying attention, I realized that pretty much every metal(core) album that I’ve really, really liked over the years was produced by Adam Dutkiewicz, who you might know as the (nutcase) guitarist of Killswitch Engage.
# Killswitch Engage – The End of Heartache (2004)
# Unearth – The Oncoming Storm (2004)
# All That Remains – The Fall of Ideals (2006)
# Killswitch Engage – As Daylight Dies (2006)
# As I Lay Dying – An Ocean Between Us (2007)
# Parkway Drive – Horizons (2007)
# Killswitch Engage – Killswitch Engage (2009)
# As I Lay Dying – The Powerless Rise (2010)
# All That Remains – For We Are Many (2010)
See a pattern here? The funny thing is that when Parkway Drive released their new album this year, I was completely unenchanted. Both the sound and the sound quality sucked, and the first thing Ol and I both said: “They have a different producer”, which turned out to be true. Which is a fucking crying shame because I completely adored their “Horizons” – the guitars were beautiful, and so were the melodies. And then the new producer came and broke the spell.
To me it’s become very obvious that the right producer can either make or break an album and a band for the fans. I had no idea that it was this important before, and it kind of blindsided me. So I’m not complaining; right now I’m just very, very glad that All That Remains and As I Lay Dying have both decided to go with Adam D as producer again, because this guy’s work just vibes with me. (which is pretty hilarious if you’ve seen him bounce around on stage. The guy is completely bonkers; he’s the guy that proclaimed: “And this song I dedicate to all you girls tits. This song is called My Curse.”)
I’m eagerly awaiting All That Remains’ new album – because I know Adam will have pulled the best out of these awesome musicians, and the great material will be presented in its most flattering form. Here’s to hoping people will keep making this decision. Rock on!