June 29, 2004 - Atreyu and The Curse

A week after my last release a new band joins my library when Atreyu released their second album "The Curse" on June 29, 2004. But who is Atreyu? They are a five-piece metalcore band from Yorba Linda, California consisting of lead singer Alex Varkatzas, guitarists Dan Jacobs and Travis Miguel, bassist Marc McKnight and drummer/clean vocalist Brandon Saller. Atreyu are definitely metalcore with plenty of heaviness and Varkatzas doing screaming vocals, but they also have a bit of an emo side to them and Saller does lots of singing as well. Let's see what Atreyu is all about!

The album starts with "Blood Children (An Introduction)" and it has screaming and singing, but everything sounds like it's way in the background. This only lasts just over a minute until things come in fully for "Bleeding Mascara" with Varkatzas holding a long, low heavy scream and some pretty sweet shredding guitar right from the get-go! The rhythm section is plenty heavy and hard-hitting and Varkatzas sounds pretty heavy and solid overtop. There's lots of heavy and cool guitars in the verse but the mood shifts to more radio-friendly for the chorus as Saller takes over with a decent singing chorus, but his voice isn't my favourite, I find it pretty average. After the next verse they rip off a pretty sweet guitar solo before closing things out after the second chorus to end this short but pretty apt first real song to show you what Atreyu is all about. Track 3 is "Right Side Of The Bed" and it's got a pretty catchy guitar riff leading the way with Varkatzas' heavy screams meshing surprisingly well with this more pop-y but still metal main riff. Saller sings the chorus again and that seems to the be the Atreyu template with the chorus being sung by Saller and much more pop-y while Varkatzas does thr heavy verses. There's another cool guitar solo on this one but I wasn't as big of a fan of this much more radio-friendly style. The next track is "This Flesh A Tomb" and Varkatzas and Saller alternate lines in this verse and I like this dynamic much better with each of them making the other sound more pronounced, and the heavy screams are pretty great! The music is a solid mix of metalcore while still being decently accessible as well. The chorus is still sung by Saller alone but this one is his best one yet in my opinion as it's easy to sing along once you get it. The heavy parts of this song remind me of Alexisonfire, which is definitely what a band like this should be aiming for! Varkatzas holds a nice long scream as they segue nicely into solo time and after some solid shredding Saller starts up a catchy new verse that takes us to the end of the song ut would seem... but an acoustic guitar riff rises from the silence and plays for 30 seconds or so until very slowly coming to a halt. Probably my favourite song so far! Track 5 is "You Eclipsed By Me" and they jump right into a hard-hitting yet decently catchy main riff with some cool guitars and pretty solid drums as well. Following the template Varkatzas screams a solid verse before Saller sings a decent chorus that's just a bit too pop-y for me. As usual the heavy parts are pretty sweet and the chorus is tolerable enough. Up next is "The Crimson" and after a light and pop-y guitar riff to start they turn the same riff heavy and things sound better for sure but still with the same pop-y, catchy feel to them so a decent little transition. Varkatzas screams sound pretty heavy and cool but the music is super simple and not my favourite and this vibe continues into the chorus. Saller's pop-y voice fits right in and this is definitely not my side of things. Varkatzas does his beat to salvage things with another solid verse but this one isn't one of my favourites, it's way too sappy and simple for me. Track 7 is "The Remembrance Ballad" and it has a slow but pretty epic and cool lead guitar riff that drives things and Varkatzas sounds pretty awesome screaming lots of long-held, super low screams overtop the epic guitar. The bass is pretty cool as well and while Saller takes the lead in the chorus Varkatzas spices things up with some nice backing screams and everything sounds really epic and smooth on this one! Solo time fits that bill as well with a smooth and epic solo then they predictably but solidly jam things out. I wouldn't have thought this style would be one of my more preferred songs on the album, but they did a great job! The next track is "An Interlude" and as the name suggests it's a short song driven by a light but fast and interesting guitar riff. The bass is solid as well but everything is pretty quiet until things flow into track 9 "Corseting" where they slam into a more typical main riff with some heavy rhythm guitar, some cool lead guitar overtop and Varkatzas screaming nice and low. This song is just over two minutes and it's the only song with no clean vocals by Saller as Varkatzas screams the whole song himself! Unsurprisingly that makes this one of the better songs on the album for me! Short but heavy and sweet the whole way through! Up next is "Demonology & Heartache" and it's led by a fast and pretty sweet guitar riff! Once the verse starts the music becomes simpler as Varkatzas takes over the lead and they do a lot of stop-and-start on this song where things get suddenly quiet, and then snap back into things heavily and nicely. Saller leads a lighter singing chorus, but it's a fairly catchy one and the chorus riff is pretty damn catchy as well. Varkatzas adds some nice long screams in the background and this is another well-done, template fitting song where the pop-y parts are still solidly heavy and things sound pretty solid. Track 11 is "My Sanity On The Funeral Pyre" and after a short intro they slam into a pretty heavy and solid main riff as the verse (nicely) fits the template. Along with his usual screaming Varkatzas adds some faster vocals that are a bit nu-metal and along with some pretty cool bass this makes for a great main riff! The chorus sucks all the heavy energy away though as the music and Saller's chorus are both fairly light and fluffy. It's not a bad chorus but I don't think it fits with this pretty awesome verse at all. Everything but the chorus is pretty damn sweet on this one, but the chorus brings things down to just a decent level sadly. The next track is "Nevada's Grace" and in a shift of the gears they start the song with a chorus as Saller sings right from the get-go overtop a typical, lighter chorus riff. The verse of course is heavier with Varkatzas leading the way nicely, but they focus is definitely on the lighter half on this one. After a couple rounds they slow things down for a melodic part that is decent but nothing too special and that pretty much sums up this one. The final song on the album is called "Five Vicodin Chased With A Shot Of Clarity" and it's got a long intro with some decent drums before they slam into a typical heavy verse. Saller and Varkatzas combine nicely in a cool bridge and they both continue to sing in this pretty solid chorus as well! It's almost like having them sing together sounds good, they don't do it nearly enough! Things sound smooth, heavy and also decently catchy and this is a pretty good way to close things out. There's one part that I actually find a bit cheesy, but otherwise it's a pretty solid tune.

That is the end of "The Curse" and I thought it was a decent metalcore album by Atreyu, but I don't think they are real game-changers in the genre. If you couldn't tell from the review, I liked the heavy parts well enough, but all the pop-y made for radio singing parts just bring things down for me. There were some pretty good songs for sure and I think it's a a worthy addition still, but it could've been so much more. Where will Atreyu go from here?