Early career/Shadows Fall In the mid-1990s, Labonte was in a
death metal band called Perpetual Doom, with its members being teenagers at the time. He originally played guitar and provided backing vocals, however the original vocalist of Perpetual Doom was Scott Estes; Labonte, however, took over the vocal position in 1993 after Estes joined the
United States Marine Corps (USMC), with Labonte also playing the guitar. In August 1993, Labonte left to join the USMC and Perpetual Doom remained inactive for nine months in his absence. After finishing basic training, he moved on to combat training, where he sustained a serious injury to his ankle that stopped his training. This led to his commanding officer sending him home with an
honorary discharge. Other band members included Ken Robert (vocals, guitar), Bill Brault (bass), and Stephen "Steve" Gonsalves (drums), who went on to become a paranormal investigator and future cast member of
Ghost Hunters. Labonte left Perpetual Doom to join the
melodic death metal band
Shadows Fall. His new bandmates asked him to refrain from playing guitar, but he served as Shadows Fall's lead vocalist from 1996 to 1998. The band's debut record,
Somber Eyes to the Sky, was released in 1997 through Lifeless Records, a label owned by Shadows Fall guitarist
Matt Bachand. Labonte was asked to leave Shadows Fall due to "musical differences" and was replaced with current vocalist
Brian Fair, leaving
Somber Eyes to the Sky as the only Shadows Fall record with Labonte on vocals. In a 2007 interview, Labonte commented on his departure from the band: "What happened was Brian [Fair], who is their current singer, the band that he was in broke up. [...] I didn't sound like Brian, and when he became available, they were like, 'Look, we want to get another singer. We want to get Brian.' I was like, 'Okay. Cool.' There's no hard feelings or anything like that 'cause I knew it was the dude they had in mind in the first place and also I had already started writing stuff for All That Remains."
All That Remains In 1998, Labonte formed
All That Remains as a side project. After he left Shadows Fall, All That Remains became his main priority. Labonte has been the vocalist of All That Remains for its entire run. Their debut record,
Behind Silence and Solitude, was released in 2002 through
Prosthetic Records/
Razor & Tie. This was then followed by 2004's
This Darkened Heart, which saw the band move more towards a
metalcore sound with some clean vocals from Labonte. The band's big break came with their 3rd album,
The Fall of Ideals, which was released in 2006 and became their first to chart on the
Billboard 200 at number 75. The album is celebrated as a metalcore classic and a breakthrough album. In a 2021 interview with
Revolver, Labonte revealed that the album's lyrics were more uplifting/optimistic due to him being in a positive spot in his life while writing them, stating "I felt like I had a lot of things to say and a lot of stuff I wanted to get across to people and I was in a really really good spot in my life. And I felt things were so optimistic and we were very excited." Their 4th studio album,
Overcome, kept the success going and took home Best Hard Rock/Metal album at the 2010 Independent Music Awards. That same year, the 5th studio album,
For We Are Many, was released, which became their most successful commercially, peaking at number 10 on the Billboard 200. They then released
A War You Cannot Win in 2012. During this time, Labonte started writing more lyrics that reflected his own life and vulnerability, crediting
Sarah McLachlan as an influence in his decision. He stated "When you write songs about your own personal vulnerability, there are people that are going to attack you for it and call you names and mock you. But it's worked out well for us, though, so it doesn't much matter." Their 8th album,
Madness, was released in 2017. One year later, they released
Victim of The New Disease, which saw the group return to their heavier sound after the previous three records were more hard rock/radio friendly. Labonte stated "In my opinion, the last really heavy record we had done was probably 2010's 'For We Are Many'. It had been a while since we really kind of focused on writing heavy stuff, so we said, 'Let's put out a record that's mostly heavy.'" Labonte and the band then faced some adversity throughout the next few years, including the death of the band’s guitarist, Oli Hebert. Labonte originally wondered if the band could go on without him but later decided the band would continue, stating "Oli would have wanted us to." After 6 years and almost an entirely new lineup, the band released their 10th album,
Antifragile, on January 31, 2025. Labonte also made the decision to part ways with the bands record label, with him emphasizing a desire to "own their art outright and avoid being constrained by label expectations." In 2012, due to Labonte's history with the band, rumors began circulating that he would officially take over lead vocals following Jones' departure, although he quickly dispelled the rumor. In 2016 and parts of 2017, Labonte filled in as the frontman for
Five Finger Death Punch after lead singer
Ivan Moody stepped away to deal with personal problems. In 2023, alongside Howard Jones, he filled in for them again during a show in California. In 2020, Labonte reunited with Perpetual Doom to release a re-recording of their song "Apt. 213". == Influences and style ==