ATREYU, FINALLY A BAND THAT DOESN'T SUCK
If you've never heard of the band called Atreyu before, you should smack yourself in the face, go out and buy their most recent album (which is called "The Curse") because you seriously have absolutely no idea what you're missing.

When I first started listening to them I was referred to them by a friend and decided to give them a chance. I heard their first two (real) songs off of their album The Curse that were entitled "Right Side Of The Bed" and "Bleeding Mascara" and thought that they were pretty awesome songs. After listening to these songs over and over I began liking them pretty fast, which is a rarity with me considering I'm so cynical about most bands (believing that they only have one or two songs that are decent).

Anyways, continuing on, I was out at the music store one day, and the person who was with me was going to buy a CD for me (afterall, it was my brithday). So I was cruising through the Punk and Metal sections, looking for a decent CD I wanted, when the new album by Atreyu caught my eye. Normally I don't buy a CD without listening to the whole thing first (just to make sure if it's worth my money), but I decided I'd give this one a shot anyways, having been referred to it by many of my heavy metal loving friends.

So I got home with my newly bought CD and I decide that I'm going to listen to it right away. I took off the wrapping (that stuff is such a bitch) and put it in my CD player, turned it on, turned on my good old Super Nintendo (I like playing while listening to music), played the whole CD straight through, and was totally blown away by what I was listening to.

If you get a chance, buy this CD, and prepare to have your head rocked off. It starts off with some sort of instrumental that sounds like it should be the background of a haunted house in a video game (like resident evil), which eventually goes on for a minute or so, and then ends off with a ten second long buildup, that leads into the first song "Bleeding Mascara" which literally slams itself into your face, a trait that is usually missing with good albums nowadays. Once the buildup is done it slams into Bleeding Mascara with a combination of double bass drumming, heavy metal screaming (good screaming too, not that crappy kind with no direction) and one hell of an insane lead guitar solo that leads you into quite possibly the best album ever made. The vocals are done in screaming, but during all of the chorus's of the song the drummer does the singing which sound so damn good it sends a chill up your spine. I'd consider Atreyu the Heavy metal version of Alexisonfire, the only difference is I can actually listen to Atreyu's whole album straight through without getting bored.

As if the sound wasn't good enough, the lyrics are all written to symbolize a very deep meaning, meaningful subject, etc. A few examples of the lyrics are as follows:

YOU ECLIPSED BY ME

I began my ascent at minue zero You made so sure of that You tried to keep me down here Your complacency has been your downfall Nobody made you king of the world And I'm here to dethrone you So kiss the ring motherfucker It's my time, my time to shine Grasping for the straws as they fall Maybe you can make a splint for your broken ego For your broken ego So I say thank you for the scars And the guilt and the pain Every tear I've never cried Has sealed your fucking fate What did you take me for, a fool? Or were you just too blind to see That every effort made has failed And there is no destroying me? Hate can be a positive emotion When it forces you to better yourself You built me, constructed my desire Perfected my hatred Now I'm driven to be ten times better than you think you are Ten times better than you think you are Piece by piece I've built my walls And burned the bridges down That lead back to people like you So full of malice, so full of scorn You tried your best to crush my spirit You tried to steal my soul You pushed my back against the wall And I broke it down I will not be broken Though I am the one who bleeds I will not be broken I am the one

And let's not forget:

DEMONOLOGY AND HEARTACHE

So unaffectionate, so insecure You claim to know a thing or two about heartache And what it's like to have your insides torn out And I believe you I see it every time your pallbearer's palor is obscured by the darkness Dancing across your face, and when the blackness veils your eyes in pain I know what it's like when memories make you wince And love letters read like obituaries And photo albums are the books of the dead I need no reminders, no more reminders I'll forget the past and lay it to rest If I had my way I'd cut the calluses off your breaking heart If I could get past the sternum Cauterize those wounds with Every kiss I could give to you I'm holding your heart in my hand The reason it still beats Am I being too cryptic? Am I being too obscure? Love kills, romance is dead And I don't even trust myself But I love you And you can pull my wings apart And pin me down under glass Until the end of days if it can help you Discover that we share the same pain I just hope you write your thesis Before your subject is dead No life after death

I can't help it, the songs are just so goddamn good:

THE REMEMBERANCE BALLAD

These days are closing in The end has become apparent We're only here for so long Will anyone remember my name When time has washed away the dust of our ashes? When my head rests in a velvet lined casket? What's out there? What is my eternal fate? It only just recently hit me That this life is just a state Mortality fading, like the innocence of line I'm scared to death of what's to become Of my immortal soul of this eternal flame Will you remember? Will your heart sing with pain? Who calls out my name? Who can tell me what happens When my eyes close for the last time? Does it all simply end in a blanket of darkness What of my soul, what of my soul? All those things you couldn't say You should've said All those I-love-you's lost Weighed more like lead on your chest What if I could take back all those misspent days? Every second of anger, I would wash my sins away

It just doesn't get any better than this. I "bought" this album on a whim, and it's now my favorite one in my entire collection. I urge you if you're a heavy metal fan, if you can buy one album, make it The Curse by Atreyu.

 

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