Today the new Atreyu album came out entitled Congregation of the Damned and it’s pretty much what you would expect from the band after 5 albums, which is heavy intros with catchy poppy choruses. It may sound unoriginal in this genre but they have been around since the early days and have branded this style of metal/rock pop in their own. I like to compare them to a hardcore 80′s Bon Jovi who at the time had heavy licks but songs about broken hearts and living wild. Atreyu has that same vibe in that they have that catchy chorus singing about broken hearts but to a vampire/undead theme in each song. They have been playing and writing this way since they started so the old saying goes “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.”
The album reminds me a lot of their breakthrough effort The Curse but with less screaming and more harsh vocals matched against the clean vocals of the drummer. Sometimes the drummer will have longer singing parts then the lead singer Alex, but it’s Alex who actually does the majority of the writing for the band. The opener to the album “Stop! Before It’s Too Late And We’ve Destroyed It All” is a solid heavy opener that mostly just sets the pace for the first half of the album that has fast guitar work and double bass drumming throughout the song. The album really kicks into gear on track 3 “Black Days Begin” which is typical Atreyu fashion, big openings to sing a long chorus into a huge finale that will make old Atreyu fans happy. The album single “Storm To Pass” is more of a balled and has catchy choruses that lead into a nasty guitar solo that finishes up a song that does indeed sound like a storm coming through.
Some of my personal favorites on the album come towards the second half which are “Coffin Nails”, “Gallows” and “You Were The King, Now You’re Unconscious” which in my mind are the strongest tracks on the album and what most Atreyu fans were missing on their previous release. The restricted love concept of “Coffin Nails”, to the super fast guitar and drumming on “Gallows” to a King facing his end in “You Were The King…”, it’s good to see Atreyu still does what they do best. But when you get to the final track “Wait For You” everything slows down and you actually hear a side of Atreyu that you haven’t heard before with a piano intro to only soft sung lyrics by both singers, you might not like what you hear at first. But trust me if you hear the song out it’s probably one of the best lyrically written songs they have done to date. The song reminds me of why they could be considered an evil Bon Jovi and I hope most people a fan of heavy music give this album a chance. Four stars, two thumbs up, 5 tomatoes or whatever high rating you want, this deserves it.
