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All Else Failed

This Never Happened
2004
Abacus

All Else Failed - This Never Happened (Cover Artwork)


Review by: Brian
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Abacus Recordings (Logo)

Published on August 10th 2004

All Else Failed are definitely growing as artists, but they sure let the growth develop over time.

The hardcore/metal outfit has their normal array of mosh-inducing-yet-techncial-in-its-own-right songs affixed complete with short chug interludes, dynamic changes disregarding otherwise normal structure within tracks, and fist-raising backups. One of the most notable tracks, “In Our Defense,” trips over string flicks in the bridge and a catchy chorus line of “we just don’t know any better.” As a whole, imagine a more raw/straightforward and less technical version of The Dillinger Escape Plan.

There are times, however, when rather abruptly, the vocals switch over to this Reach the Sky-like quality, things slow down, and they resort to more emotional, reserved midtempo upswings. These songs, especially “Departing Flight,” or “Waterlogged,” the latter of which relies on soft cymbals and mellow picking in the verses and a yearning chorus with only a slight percentage of screamed vocals, and times like the acoustic groundwork laid under forlorn, eager crooning in the intro of “All Good Things,” are welcome departures from the rest of This Never Happened if not completely unexpected ventures into more accessible territory. I guess even intensity lets sentiment in on the action once in a while.

TNH doesn’t completely grab me by the throat for its forty-six minute running time, but there are plenty moments of nicely flowing yet unpredictable directional change in the songs or hooks in general that prevent dulling filler from appearing often.

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To Whom It May Concern






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    Posted by Anonymous on Saturday, April 1, 2006 at 1:31 PM (EST)

    "this band was around way before zao's "all else failed" came out"

    Zao's "All Else Failed" originally came out in 1995, prior to their signing to Solid State. It was then later re-recorded and relased in 2002. However, I am assuming the band All Else Failed got their name, being it isn't that uncommon of a saying.

    Posted by etwiels88 on 2005-08-23 20:50:48

    agreed. good album though. the intensity is in the live show.

    Posted by Anonymous on Friday, August 27, 2004 at 8:27 PM (EDT)
    My Score:

    you people...are...all...idiots...

    sincerely,
    bryan

    Posted by Anonymous on Tuesday, August 17, 2004 at 9:35 AM (EDT)
    My Score:

    Hi. I'm Mr. Penis. I'm a big freakin Penis. Wax ur freakin nuts. The sound of the rip of the hair from the balls is a new "sound". a new....."genre".......We will call it "Wax'em' Nuts". A huge store filled with "Wax'em' Nuts" clothing and band items will be sold there, and myabe the name of the store will be "Flaming Nuts". Kids will then start wearing the new "Wax' em' Nuts" style, maybe Dildos on their head, to flastic nuts around their neck, i dont know, we have to see what becomes popular. But then bands like SImple Plan, Good SImple Charlotte, Avril, MxPx, will start claiming the "Wax'em' Nuts" style of music, and then "Wax'em'Nuts" will then die, and then its body will be infested by poser bands who have a cult following. The END.

    Sincerely,
    Mr. Penis

    Posted by Anonymous on Sunday, August 15, 2004 at 9:50 PM (EDT)
    My Score:

    you guys sound like a little asian man getting raped by a guerilla.

    Posted by Anonymous on Sunday, August 15, 2004 at 1:39 PM (EDT)
    My Score:

    How do you kill anything by labeling it? The band is still making the same music. Do you kill milk by calling dairy? Do you kill brussel sprouts by calling them vegtables? There is a difference between metal, hardcore and metalcore. I dont care which one anyone likes better or hates or whatever but there is a difference and giving something name makes it easier to describe. What destroys punk is all you pigheaded dipshits that cannt understand the concept that people have different tastes and that not everyone likes the same 10 shitty three chord punk bands, that came straight out of stagnant time warp from1977 that you do. All that said I downloaded that song and was not impressed. Go listen to discordance axis.

    randomdipshit

    Posted by Anonymous on Saturday, August 14, 2004 at 2:38 PM (EDT)
    My Score:

    you people are pathetic,
    go read a book, get off the web if this is how your spending your time.

    to most of you, "the used" is a metalcore band
    keep killing punk with your labels

    Posted by FortyMinutesWest on 2004-08-14 00:52:45
    My Score:

    I'm going to assume that you're joking, because no one thinks Merauder is good.

    Good metalcore would be Converge, Unearth, Prayer For Cleansing, Shai Hulud, 7 Angels 7 Plagues, Skycamefalling, etc.

    Posted by Anonymous on Friday, August 13, 2004 at 7:28 PM (EDT)
    My Score:

    if you're all just saying metalcore sucks, you probably think a lot of metalcore sounds like atreyu. there are a lot of good metalcore bands out there such as merauder, all out war, and 100 demons.

    Posted by some1 on 2004-08-12 20:15:24
    My Score:

    i didn't say grind wasn't a genre. i was referring to when you said "non-grind people". no person refers to themselves as "grind" just as no one should refer to themselves as "metalcore"

    Posted by Anonymous on Thursday, August 12, 2004 at 6:00 PM (EDT)
    My Score:

    ska/punk was the new rap/rock

    Posted by Anonymous on Thursday, August 12, 2004 at 5:59 PM (EDT)
    My Score:

    metalcore is the new ska/punk

    randomdipshit

    Posted by Anonymous on Thursday, August 12, 2004 at 4:54 PM (EDT)
    My Score:

    this band was around way before zao's "all else failed" came out

    check out their amazing album, archtype, which came out in....2001?

    anyway, i wasn't aware they had a new release, but I am very excited and will be picking this up. I'm glad they signed to century media too, some really good bands on they label they could be touring with

    Posted by Anonymous on Thursday, August 12, 2004 at 3:32 PM (EDT)
    My Score:

    So metalcore is the new, shitty, crossover?

    -BSD

    Posted by Anonymous on Thursday, August 12, 2004 at 3:16 PM (EDT)
    My Score:

    I want to set some things straight.

    1. DEP do play grind. Experimental grind but grind all the same. I would say they were influenced by bands such as coalesce and exit 13 by using such odd time signatures and elements of jazz and other types of music in their songs but at the root you have grind.

    2. Metalcore is a genre of music. It has a pretty simple meaning. You combine elements of metal and hardcore, BAM, you got yourself metalcore. Just because a genre of music becomes watered down and generic doesnt mean it doesnt exist.

    Posted by Anonymous on Thursday, August 12, 2004 at 11:14 AM (EDT)
    My Score:

    So metalcore is a genre, but not grind... Okay, crawl back into Bizzaro World, please.

    -BSD

    Posted by some1 on 2004-08-12 00:53:44
    My Score:

    what? these are the worst comments ever, on any topic ever.

    of course metalcore is a genre, it sucks but it is a genre. Zao didn't invent the phrase 'all else failed', no one has ever been SCARED by Carcass or any band for that matter, and does anyone call themselves grind? "Hello, I'm grind" fuck you.

    Posted by Anonymous on Wednesday, August 11, 2004 at 11:19 PM (EDT)
    My Score:

    Metalcore isn't a real genre, though, and DEP sound nothing like bands that are considered metalcore. Metalcore to me sounds like over-produced crossover/crust with no sense of topic.

    -BSD

    Posted by Anonymous on Wednesday, August 11, 2004 at 9:44 PM (EDT)
    My Score:

    i would say they're experimental metalcore. they have heavy grind influence, but they aren't a grind band.

    Posted by Anonymous on Wednesday, August 11, 2004 at 4:25 PM (EDT)
    My Score:

    But if you don't like grind, why do you like experimental grind? I'm not talking about Miss Machine, here, either.

    It just seems like someone saying "oh, I really hate the Beatles... But CAN is awesome". It's pointless, it means you look for an element in the music that couldn't be more than superficial to you.

    -BSD

    Posted by FortyMinutesWest on 2004-08-11 16:16:57
    My Score:

    "didn't Zao have an album called All Else Failed? I dont know if they ripped the name off from them, but if they did those bastards...."

    This band is a thousand times better than ZAO.

    Posted by Anonymous on Wednesday, August 11, 2004 at 12:39 PM (EDT)
    My Score:

    Yeah, DEP really branched out into the expermental world. They've become more of a straight up heavy rock band.

    Score's for Miss Machine

    -benz

    Posted by inagreendase on 2004-08-11 11:40:25
    My Score:

    Probably because DEP isn't a traditional grind band. If you listened to Miss Machine you'd know that over half the album isn't rooted in grind at all.

    Posted by Anonymous on Wednesday, August 11, 2004 at 9:27 AM (EDT)
    My Score:

    I really don't understand how non-grind people appreciate DEP... I think they claim to because it's trendy. I know for a fact that Carcass would scare the shit out of them, though.

    -BSD

    Posted by Anonymous on Wednesday, August 11, 2004 at 9:05 AM (EDT)
    My Score:

    didn't Zao have an album called All Else Failed? I dont know if they ripped the name off from them, but if they did those bastards....

    Posted by FortyMinutesWest on 2004-08-10 21:51:54
    My Score:

    Archetype was amazing, I haven't heard this one yet.

    Score's for Archetype.