Band o’ the Week: Atreyu

One of the many things I love in life is music.  Music has always been a huge part of my life.  Whether it was when I was younger, growing up on country music and great classic rock, when I developed my own tastes and went after some of the more hard rock groups, or now where I will listen to just about anything, music has always been something that has kept me entertained and (mostly) sane.

Lately, however, I’ve fallen behind in the world of music.  You could ask me the name of a band, song, or lyrics from just about anything and I could tell you the answer.  Now, I have found so many bands (both new and old) that I’ve never heard of.

So I decided to start exploring.  Each week I am going to talk about a new band that I spent the entire week listening to.  Now keep in mind, this isn’t a new band in the sense that they just started releasing albums, I am talking about new to me.  These are bands that some people may know, some may not, and some may not WANT to know.  But in the end, hopefully a few people will find some new music to enjoy.

This week’s band; Atreyu

Atreyu is a band that formed in 1998.  They have released 5 studio albums, 2 early EPs that they released prior to signing a record deal, and one best-of album which came out in 2007.  They are classified under the “metalcore” genre of music which is basically a mixture of hardcore punk  and extreme metal.  I would probably go on to say that they are more of a sub-genre known as melodic metalcore.  But what do you care, really?

My first taste of Atreyu was from their song “Bleeding Mascara” which I found when  I was just randomly looking for some good music to listen to while I was at the gym and clicked on a link that let me listen to it.  It has the typical screaming that metalcore is known for, but in many of their songs – especially the more modern songs – Brandon Saller pulls in his very melodic singing voice to add to the screaming done by Alex Varkatzas.

My favorite album released by Atreyu has to be Lead Sails Paper Anchor which was released in 2007.  With great, pounding songs with melodic choruses like “Doomsday”, “Honor”, “Falling Down”, “Becoming The Bull”, “When Two Are One”,  “Can’t Happen Here” and “Blow” mixed with a couple of slower songs with “Lead Sails (And A Paper Anchor)” and “Lose It” while being finished with a couple of great covers in “Epic” and “Clean Sheets”.  These are all songs I can listen to (and have) again and again and enjoy it.

This isn’t the only great album, however.  A Death-Grip on Yesterday has some great songs with “Ex’s and Oh’s”, “Her Portrait in Black (from the Underworld movies) and “The Theft” while all of the other albums have some great songs that are fun to sing along with.

Overall, I think I made a good choice in listening to this band and choosing it to lead the BotW charge.  I am going to give Atreyu a 4 peanut out of 5 peanut rating.  I’d recommend it if you are into the heavier stuff and don’t mind a little bit of melody thrown in.