The world of rock doesn't have too many staples left these days, but with a little work, Atreyu could easily become one of the giants of the new age. The band's most recent effort, "Lead Sails Paper Anchor," is an album chock full of surprisingly good fist-pumping anthems, complete with 'these-go-to-eleven' guitar solos from lead guitarist and old-school metal-head Dan Jacobs.
When most people think of Atreyu, they usually lump the band into a pile with other metal-core acts. Atreyu, however, is one of the bands of said genre that truly deserves a second chance.
This is Atreyu's fourth major-label album and was released by Hollywood Records. Its three previous records were under Victory, which has garnered some negative attention in recent years for their allegedly unfair treatment of artists. "Lead Sails Paper Anchor" sees a very different Atreyu than the one signed to Victory Records. The "new" group has abandoned what was left of its screamo past in favor of an 80's-rock sound.
The band's first and second major label albums, "Suicide Notes and Butterfly Kisses" and "The Curse," both released on Victory, initially brought the band to popularity among hardcore kids. While "Suicide Notes" was a typical hardcore scream-fest of an album, "The Curse" incorporated much more of drummer Brandon Saller's melodic singing into its more structured, melody-oriented, MTV2-friendly track list.
The singles "Right Side of the Bed" and "Bleeding Mascara" were success stories from "The Curse," but the songs still had the generic guitar-riff-covered-with-screaming form, which eventually gave way to melodic and catchy choruses.
Screamo still lingers on their newest "Lead Sails Paper Anchor. The first track, entitled "Doomsday," features the lyrics, "seems that doomsday has come early this year." While it is certainly not uplifting, and not really any cleverer than most other metal-core, it is at least one thing: catchy.
The first single from the album, "Becoming the Bull," starts with a nasty - in the good sense - guitar riff from Jacobs, followed by a verse that, thankfully, isn't screamed in a monotone cookie-monster voice. The most impressive part of the song is most definitely the starting guitar riff, setting a precedent that the rest of the album follows; guitarist Dan Jacobs shines as the most talented member of the band and he needs his space to glisten.
The best song on the album is the 80s-rock infused "Blow." Without even hearing the song, the fact that the tune starts with the cowbell automatically puts it in the running for best song ever. After four beats of cowbell, lead singer Alex Varkatzas yells (to be differentiated from screams) "so f****** blow those words out the back of your head/ I've heard it all and I'm done with that s***." The man isn't a poet, to be sure, but it's so undeniably fun to sing along with that line.
What Atreyu needs to learn from "Blow" is quite a valuable lesson for any current rock band: screaming is overrated. Screams here and there are fine, and once in a blue moon a song made entirely of screams is palatable, but if you abuse the scream, the scream gets old - FAST.
All in all, Atreyu has put together a solid fourth album, taking another small step towards being a really good rock act. With a bit more time and a little more confidence in their 80's-hair-metal roots, the band could become more juat than another talented metal-core act.
