FOR ALL WE KNOW — For All We Know (review)

FOR ALL WE KNOW — For All We Know album cover

Album · 2011 · Progressive Metal

4/5 · 2011-09-01
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For All We Know is a supergroup, and this self-titled 2011 effort is their debut album. The band is headed by guitarist Rudd Jolie, who is better known for his work with the symphonic metal band Within Temptation. In For All We Know he turns his attention to less commercial music, although ironically it’s often not actually as heavy as some of his main band’s stuff, being best described as a progressive rock release with such touches of metal to spice it up. The band’s line-up is filled out most notably by a current member of Pain of Salvation in drummer Léo Margarit, and a former member of said band in bassist Kristoffer Gildenlöw. The band is fronted by one Wudstik, whom rock and metal fans may be familiar with due to his contribution to the 2008 Ayreon album 01011001. He’s actually a hip-hop artist, which set some warning bells off back in 2008 when I heard about his Ayreon involvement, but fortunately thanks to Ayreon I know what to expect here – some really powerful and soulful vocals that fit the progressive rock template exceptionally well. The line-up is completed by members of Cloudmachine and Stereo.

Comparisons to Ayreon are also pretty well justified when considering the lighter atmospheric side of For All We Know’s music, not to mention that the album involves a number of guest vocalists, whom like Wudstik himself, have some involvement with Ayreon at some point in the past, including Sharon den Adel (Within Temptation), Damian Wilson (Threshold) and Daniel Gildenlöw (Pain of Salvation), although they only show up in the relatively short track Keep Breathing. A lot of the album focuses on the atmospherically side of the progressive rock genre. This aspect of the band is done extremely well, and Wudstik’s vocals are really suited to it.

The metal side of For All We Know is no less common, although the band certainly don’t go about creating an in your face sound, and it again focuses mostly on being atmospheric over delivering crushingly heavy riffs. It’s for that reason that I feel the album is best suited for listeners more into their progressive rock than their metal, although there are certainly more than enough heavy sections in the album for the metal fans to also find plenty to nod their head to. One of the most notable heavy tracks is the album’s longest track Down on My Knees, which is also one of the very best. There are plenty of heavy guitars on offer throughout the record, but much of it feels much closer to rock rhythms than your typical heavy metal riffage, not that there’s anything wrong with that.

The sound certainly works on For All You Know’s debut album, and they know how to play off their strengths. All the instruments are played exceptionally well and the progressive patterns in the songs go down a treat, while still managing to throw in a few lyrical hooks to make the tracks generally memorable. The production is also done in such a way that it suits the music perfectly.

For some reason however I find it difficult to get through the album in a single sitting without my attention starting to wander. The album is certainly excellently and professionally crafted, but after a while it does seem to get a tad stale, which may be because when the band delivers a real masterpiece of a track such as Down on My Knees, When Angels Refuse To Fly, or Tired And Ashamed it leaves me finding tracks that aren’t quite up to the same standard as something of a letdown. While there is no track included that could really be deemed as bad, I do find that there is a noticeable jump in quality between some of them, which makes the album sound slightly inconsistent to my ears. It’s solid material overall, but if everything had been up to the same high standard like on those tracks I just namedropped then For All You Know’s debut would have been an even stronger album than it ended up as.

If you’re into your atmospheric progressive music, whether it comes in a rock or metal form, you’re definitely going to be in for a treat with For All You Know’s debut. While I did find some fault in it, overall it can only be considered a positive experience, and I’m eager to hear what these guys can do in the future.

(Originally written for Heavy Metal Haven, scored at 8.0/10)