That One Time All That Remains Recorded A Glam Power Ballad

Did you own the album A War You Cannot Win from All That Remains (ATR), released back in 2012? The single "What If I Was Nothing" came out months later, in September 2013.

The song was a commercial hit for All That Remains and opened them to a more mainstream audience. In fact, the song was on Billboard's mainstream rock chart among others.

It's like a winning formula. A band wants a hit and they dive into the Glam playbook for what works. A song about love - either good or bad - a gang chorus, a guitar solo and a slower tempo and wham: hit!

Check out the two-minute mark for that great solo. It reminds me of Randy Rhoads a bit. John Sykes too. There’s a little C.C. DeVille in there too.

Of course, the song is a product of its time and also sounds like early Bullet For My Valentine (BFMV). See their own power ballad "Tears Don't Fall.”

The rest of A War You Cannot Win is heavier or leans into metalcore. It was produced by Adam Dutkiewicz, better known as a guitarist for Killswitch Engage (KSE). They have a tendency to get Glammy with their guitar solos, too. Plus they covered Dio's "Holy Diver" so there's that. (There's also a ton of crossover history between ATR and KSE and that is for another day).

I don't think it is a coincidence that both BFM and ATR were formed in 1998 - the same year I graduated high school. What did I grow up on? Late 80s Glam and early 90s Metal of course. It's no shock these metalcore bands dip their toes into the 80s music pool once in a while. After all, the water’s always fine in our pool, isn’t it?

So you're wondering, "Why is Allyson writing about ATR today?" It's because my Amazon Music 2025 recap came out this morning and ATR was in my top plays. This was due to Eric since he shares my account. They are one of his favorite bands and he's been listening to them nonstop so I get it in the background too.

In case you're wondering, Sleep Token's "Emergence" was my top played song on Amazon Music this year. I asked my EchoDot in the bedroom to play Steely Dan's "Chain Lightning" 25 times because Roosevelt the cat loves that song and likes listening while he's dropping cat hair all over my duvet cover.