Atreyu
“A Death Grip on Yesterday”
Victory Records
The Inside Pulse:
Atreyu seems to have finally settled into a sound. The band burst on to the scene with the harsh, death-metal-esque hardcore EP “Fractures in the Facade of Porcelain Beauty” in 2002. The group’s first full-length, “Suicide Notes and Butterfly Kisses” was more of a straight-forward hardcore affair. The band moved in an more metal direction for 2004’s “The Curse,” with most critics hailing the band for incorporated a retro-80s feel to its music. The hardcore has been toned down on each subsequent release.
“The Curse” is what made Atreyu a hit, which is what makes “A Death Grip on Yesterday” such an interesting album. Now that the band finally has a set sound, it feels free to explore the parameters and experiment to some degree. Such undertaking could be successful or an utter failure. This new release falls into both columns.
Positives:
Atreyu has found a comfortable sound and it shows. Tracks life “Ex’s and Oh’s” and “We Stand Up” explode out of the gate. The album is full of the hardcore growls and soaring sung vocals. There’s plenty of driving guitar riffs and frantic drumming. In short, there’s plenty for fans to love. And there even a few surprises, most notably the pseudo-ballad “The Theft,” a slow-tempo, melodic rocker that will catch most fans completely off guard (the surprise is it’s probably the best song on the album).
Negatives:
There’s far less hooks when the album kicks off. The one-two punch on “The Curse” of “Bleeding Mascara” and “Wrong Side of the Bed” set a pretty high president, and sadly there’s nothing quite like these two tracks on “Death Grip…” (in the hook dept.). The album does pick up after “Our Sick Story,” but at 33 minutes in length, there’s little time to mess around. There are also times where the album starts to almost sound like Atreyu is treading water trying to figure out exactly which direction it wants to go in. The logical progression for the band would be the same one that Avenged Sevenfold took (eliminating the hardcore vocals altogether), though I hope it’s more like the From Autumn to Ashes route (keeping the hardcore stuff in there to a limited degree). There’s some creative stuff on this release, but it’s not the explosion “the Curse” seemed to promise.
Reasons to buy:
Atreyu is one of the better bands on the metal circuit at the moment. The group is an exciting, young band full of potential, and it’s fun to see the band and its sound grow and develop. “A Death Grip on Yesterday” isn’t the worst album of the year, it fact, it’ll probably end up being one of the best. If “The Curse” wasn’t so good, it’d would be easier to give this album a higher grade, but it’s clear Atreyu is capable of much more. Rate this as a slighter-higher than average release from an above-average band. Go grab a copy, you won’t be sorry, you just won’t be blown away.
