Atreyu has a new album coming out in October. The band's last album,
Lead Sails, Paper Anchor, was definitely way below the caliber of their previous works. It was decent at best, and for a band that had 3 simply amazing albums before hand, it was a let-down to hear so much thoughtless radio rock from one of the most influential bands in my life so far.
With that said, obviously I am both excited and scared for the upcoming release of
Congregation of the Damned. Lyrically, Atreyu has always been one of the best bands out there in my opinion (save
Lead Sails of course...), and lead vocalist Alex Varkatzas's words have nearly always been very well chosen and devoid of unnecessary rhyming while filled with dark and honest confessions of his personal and social issues. Really good stuff on their first 3 albums, just really, really good.
Alex is promising a return back to that with
Congregation of the Damned,
For Congregation of the Damned, Atreyu expressed an interest in returning to their "heavy hardcore" roots, following 2007's Lead Sails Paper Anchor, while also wanting to "move forward".[1] Comparing the new album to Lead Sails, drummer Brandon Saller stated that “there were parts of ‘Atreyu’ missing and that we needed back, so we’ve brought them back.” He also went on to claim that the band had been "reflecting on how far we’ve come and where from. It’s stepping forward to new territory but taking with us the best of where we’ve been."[2] Similarly, lead singer Alex Varkatzas claimed that the record is a "mix of everything we've ever done. For every song that's more melodic or rock-driven there's a total shitkicker, and I think that's what makes us a well-rounded band."
Needless to say, I'm very excited for this new release. I think it should be awesome to hear more on what Alex has to say about our present conundrum economically and all that. It should give him an opportunity to recapture his previous greatness and I am extremely excited for that.
Ideally, that means that there will be a bit of catchy nonsense but still a bit of actual awesomeness and good music. I suppose we'll see when the album comes out. So far, I haven't been too impressed with the single "Storm to Pass", but I did like "Stop! Before It's Too Late and We've Destroyed it All"-- both tracks are available on the band's
MySpace.
So, I am still a bit apprehensive because of the disappointing mediocrity of
Lead Sails, so I can't help but be a little worried. I really hope that Atreyu returns to greatness with this next album, so that I can stop feeling marginally ashamed to like one of the best bands I've ever heard, simply because 1 out of 4 albums was kind of... embarrassing.
