Darkness and brutality, these are the things that make Atreyu such a great Metalcore band. Taking their name from the movie “The Neverending Story,” Atreyu has left a bloody path of creativity that few could match. Their 2004 opus, “The Curse” [Victory Records], is Gothic Metalcore built on the splendid wreckage of the dying light. It’s powerful, sublime, and bleakly poetic.
Atreyu‘s sound ensorcells… dark, harsh guitars with a melancholic spirit fuse with tight, frenzied rhythms. Shrill, intense growls are interlaced with clean, emotive yells and guttural roars. Bleeding melody and power, Atreyu has a dark glory that is epic. Atreyu is an apotheosis of beautiful brutality.
With the resplendence of the night, Atreyu burns. The best of these tenebrous wonders includes the melodiously melancholic “Right Side Of The Bed,” “Demonology And Heartache,” the aggressive sublimity of “Five Vicodin Chased With A Shot Of Clarity,” “This Flesh A Tomb,” the explosive “The Crimson,” and the epic “You Eclipsed By Me.” Atreyu shines like ancient stars….
It’s addictively, abysmally beautiful.
Overall, Atreyu has a tragic glory that is stark and irresistible. Atreyu has released one of the most extraordinary albums of the year. This is a blessed curse. Stay savage. Farewell.
Related Bands: Acid Bath, Closer Than Kin, Hatebreed, Earth Crisis, Zao, Agony Scene, Freya, A Perfect Murder, Martyr A.D., A18, Between The Buried And Me, Turmoil, Glasseater, Stretch Arm Strong, Haste, Figure Four, Scar Culture, Silverstein, Everytime I Die, Avenged Sevenfold, Unearth, As I Lay Dying, Killswitch Engage, Eighteen Visions, Poison The Well, Chimaira, Bleeding Through, etc.
Keep the faith, and the AGGRESSION. War.
Bill Vogel III
Email at: StrangeAeons@hatebox.net
Copyright 2004.
Courtesy of Stranger Aeons Magazine.
