Album review: All This Filth-Tomorrow will be Better? By Mark J. FFO: Crushing Industrial/Groove Metal.

 

Album review: All This Filth- Tomorrow Will Be Better? By Mark J. FFO: Crushing Industrial/Groove Metal. 

Yes, indeed the album you have or should have been on the edge of your seat to hear. The new album from ALL THIS FILTH, the Perth juggernauts sits between a few genres but clearly has a unique and captivating sound. Prepare to be floored listeners!
It is well worth looking at this band's bio/history and previous catalogue because it paints an inspiring tale


Bio:
To the uninitiated, All This Filth is a Metal band from Perth, Western Australia. They blend many different Metal and heavy subgenres including Groove, Thrash, Hardcore, Death, Industrial, and even hints of Sludge and Nu-Metal to create a unique blend of aggressive fury. Strongly influenced by bands such as Fear Factory, Chimaira and Sepultura, the essence of what metal really means is expressed sonically through the crushing riffs, solid drums and ballsy bass, while being dynamically shaped with electronic keys and audio samples.

Debuting in 2008, ATF, as they are also proudly known as in the inner sanctums of the Perth metal scene, have been amassing a dedicated, loyal following with their explosive and energetic live shows, crushing releases, strong work ethic and dedication to the cause. Their debut album “11 Past” was released not long after their entrance into the world and received favourable reviews describing the music as “like a slug to the chest”. Their follow-up EP release ‘Programmed to Suffer’ continued the momentum and subsequently gained a West Australian Song Of The Year nomination for the title track.

With their second full-length album “Misery Season” unleashed in 2019 which resulted in the band scoring a second West Australian Song Of The Year nomination, the band stepped up their game with rave reviews on the new songs as well as scoring coveted slots on the 2019 WAMFest event and the sold-out Slayfest in 2020 alongside some of West Australia’s metal alumni. In the middle of the Misery Season album cycle, the band made their first trek over east performing several shows supporting their brand new video for “Drowning”.

After kicking off 2023 supporting Powerman 5000 in Perth and forming a new lineup and album coming together, the future sees the metal outfit once again bring a powerful combination of musicianship and energy to the stage, having already built a reputation of laying waste to any stage they hit and delivering unforgettable performances that leave audiences in awe and out of breath.

The brand new album from All This Filth is titled “Tomorrow Will Be Better?“, out February 9th 2024 via Brutal Records. Available worldwide on all digital platforms & CD.

“Tomorrow Will Be Better?” was recorded from May 2021 to October 2022 at Sumo Studios in Perth, Western Australia. The album was produced by Tristan Sturmer, mixed by Daniel Thabet at Liquid Studios in Dorset, Vermont USA and mastered by Grammy award-winning engineer Alan Douches (Cannibal Corpse, Devildriver, Prong) at West West Side Music in New Windsor, New York USA. Album Artwork & Layout was handled by Kat Atkinson at Beautiful Chaos Art and Design.

Let's check this beast of a release out.

Straight up, the production is very face forward, and aggressive but subtle enough to show the intricacies of the album. Across this album, are small (but super important) details that are best experienced and listened to on decent headphones, noises, beats, synths etc all make up complex layers to a brutal album. Brutal in both lyrical content and theme, and most definitely musically. This is without a doubt ATF's battleflag in the ground moment, to state they have truly arrived is a massive understatement. In the extreme music landscape, this is one of the best metal albums you have heard in ages. Sheer world-class quality on every level.

Also, add to that amazing videos and super memorable singles from this release. Opener It’s Never Going To Be Ok begins with intense drama and a car crash/smash with a repeated phrase-So what the Fuck and a slicing tempo and assault begins, this definitely shows the flavour of the Static X meets Chimaira style. Nu-metal underpins the band under the dominant Industrial metal barrage, but in the best way-utilising groove, catchy choruses and non-linear vocal phasing. This track is all about simmering mood, tension and nasty crescendo. This is how one opens an album perfectly.

Dark Hearts, Dark Minds is next and this is a wonderful mood piece of a song, it has dirty, emotive synth and crushing riffs and vocals. And I adored the whispered start, so damn clever. And excellent lyrics which we will touch on later, but the effort lyrically is immense. All This Filth's entire soundscape works flawlessly because each musician's playing fits so well, that no one is independent of the other. The synth/bass rolls in sync with the drums and the biting riffs and coarse vocals are additional weapons to finish off the assault. But for a band with some lineup changes, this album sounds colossally cohesive and confident. Each musician's work adds to the other and as mentioned earlier is superficial; every stunning part makes the final outstanding cake. Still Bleeds My Heart follows this mantra well, with mad samples and a winning formula of quiet vs loud combined with brutal riffs and intensity. This has a wicked Soulfly meets Fear Factory/Ministry vibe that instantly got me the first listen. One of the many strong singles from this album. The punishing mix of warlike drums and acidic vocals was so abrasive and catchy. 

Disconnect is a perfect example of how to start a song with psychotic riff hooks, unhinged vocal work and so much tension. And some of the best Industrial/Gothic synth work I have heard in ages. The keyboard and programming are moody and melancholic mixed with mechanical heavy lifting from the breathtaking bass and drum work. Plus it has a cheesy solo that was leftfield, but utterly well-placed. Brendan does some wild vocal work across this song, as expected. No More Rain is definitely one that will make the crowds go sick-mad pace, very hardcore influenced foundation-quite simply threatens to go off the rails. I definitely can hear a Chaos A.D. Sepultura vibe guitar-wise, particularly the main chorus and this is a key point in how the band gives quality head nods to the metal greats whilst showcasing how skilled the band is. They make retro songs sound refreshed and all under the ATF style. Definitely a difficult task, but this band does all that and some more with apparent ease.

Once you purchase the CD version of this album and you damn well should, because you get: 1)two stunning bonus tracks(even a secret hidden track also-nudge nudge wink wink)and 2) all the amazing artwork in the booklet, that will leave you speechless and you can read the imposing lyrics. Now as per other All This Filth releases, the lyrics are dark, quite emotional and super reflective in terms of struggles with mental health and quite simply how fucked the world is. But vocalist Brendan always presents this in a non-attention-seeking manner and so many fans remark how they can both relate to the lyrics and also find comfort in the topics this band discusses. Read the lyrics and the whole picture is more apparent; the art, music and lyrics fit so well. 

All This Filth particularly makes this clear in the moments when the band drops the tempo slightly and this allows some space compared to the generally hectic and clobbering objective in most tracks. Breathing Concrete, Collapsing and Skyline do this all most exquisitely, the tempo and overall delivery are slightly tangential to the other tracks and indeed the heaviness is strongly present, but this also allows for moments of slight marginally slower pace that gives the band time to show how damn skilled they are. Indeed this is a band that should be playing all around the world, particularly big festival gigs. The band can change it up, and let the tension ooze out in multiple ways. Whatever way they do this, you are entirely smothered by the oppressiveness and weight of every track. 

I have to give special mention to Skyline, the longest track on the album and a song whose parts stem from the previous album sessions. This is one of the many highlights across the record, but it floors you so hard. Musically it is almost Industrial sludge, it pushes out the boat to the edge of many heavy genres, but is so searing in both lyrics and it's lamenting tone akin to a funeral march. And how are these lyrics:


Sunday, October
Still sleepless, my soul bled
Tears fell on flowers
My wrist hurt. just end it
Future, looks darker
My past life, Is fading
Best days, behind me
No glory, no Future

Nothing, will ever feel
That good again
Nothing will ever feel
That right again
Nothing will ever feel
So real again
Nothing will make me feel
Alive again

This song is incredible and it will crush you.

Other tracks with a more feverish tone/tempo are the excellent Exploitation, Waste My Life and the bonus tracks-Less Misery and As I Drown. All of these are curt objects of sheer blunt trauma and the bonus tracks aren't even throwaway songs-in fact Less Misery is one of my top three tracks of the record. Yes, All This Filth gives you the whole prize with this release. Closing out this record is the title track which is a magnificent opus of nasty Industrial metal crossed with peak hardcore(almost Hatebreed)and almost Machine Head/Dry Kill Logic/Slipnot/Lamb of God metal magic, like seriously. The groove aspect and vocal phrasing on this are turbulent and captivating.

To summarise: expect to go on a savage rollercoaster of emotionally deep and psychotic extreme modern metal. If you want brilliant vocals, raging riffs, sonorous bass and drums, and boisterous synths/beats/samples/noises this is your perfect record. Also, I loved how the song sequence is so perfect across this album because it touches every mood an extreme metal band should and sets you in a constant state of what-the-fucks-something I seek from any recommend, but rarely find.  All This Filth has produced a classic that is at home in a pub, nightclub or on the main stage of a major European festival. 

Tomorrow Will Be Better? is an Australian metal classic release and this will kick off things big time for this phenomenal band.




Grab the album (and also some sick merch):


Watch their brilliant videos:

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Here's the flyer and ticket links for the album launch:


Tickets:


(all photos were lifted from the band's website and social media pages for full credits)

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