All Else Fails Get Political on New “Antimartyr” Video

Canadian band All Else Fails scratch a certain nostalgic itch for mid ’00s metalcore — before that term became a bad word — that I’m really feeling at the moment (last year’s top-notch release by The Agonist falls into the same category). Ya see, before the genre became all about good cop / bad cop, dumb breakdown, crab crouches and stupid haircuts, the American metalcore scene produced some killer, and innovative albums; the early releases by God Forbid, Shadows Fall, Killswitch Engage, Unearth and more fall into this category.

Which isn’t to All Else Fails are a “retro” band, even if they’ve been around for a decade. Their production is modern, and their approach isn’t derivative, but their general style — and finesse around their instruments — harks back to a time when the union of metal and hardcore was novel and exciting. “Antimartyr,” from their 2013 EP, is a perfect example of that: it’s aggressive, the riffs are strong, the chorus is catchy and the members can all clearly play their instruments quite well. Even the clean-sung chorus comes off as strong, not saccharine. There’s really nothing not to like here, even if All Else Fails aren’t really reinventing the wheel.

The new music video for “Antimartyr” premiered earlier this week at Metal Injection; watch it below. The band expects to release a full-length album later this year or early next.