Atreyu will be releasing their new album, ‘Congregation Of The Damned’, and here’s what you can expect…

Stop! Before It’s too Late and We’ve Destroyed It All
Great album opener, full-paced and full of foreboding. One of Alex’s finest moments as he experiments to great effect with different vocal styles, from an almost Pete Steele bass to his signature hardcore scream. The music is almost cinematic in it’s darkness but doesn’t lack the fist-pumping sing-along choruses we’ve come to expect.

Bleeding Is A Luxury
An album highlight and no doubt why they chose this track as one of their live previews. Epic held guitar chords lead into a driving verse and Alex/Brandon vocal interplay keep the music dense and moving. The bridge alone is as strong as any of their best choruses. Nice organic almost melodramatic strings are a nice touch. Stylistically the band have moved further into their own distinctive combi-genre of metal and rock.
Check out Atreyu playing ’Bleeding Is A Luxury’ live 

Congregation Of The Damned
Fast rockin’ Atreyu with a punky bounce and Alex holds back the scream so we can hear what he’s saying. The verse and chorus structure feels condensed and streamlined: it hops from one hooky lick to a riff to the vocals to a bridge and back. The bands new sound – a combination of ‘The Curse’’s darkness and ‘Lead Sails…’s 80s party feel has collided into a macabre circus of the bizarre, like the perfect soundtrack to one ‘House Of 1000 Corpses’. Haunted by horrific visions, who happen to dance well.

Coffin Nails
Nice guitar lick intro, straight into another twin-guitar harmony with Dan and Travis. Again, Alex is in new vocal territory as he vocalises, ‘Don’t give a shit about it…’ The layers of vocals are more complex than simple to-and-fro or two-person harmonies and adds to the feeling of an army of people chanting some massive post-apocalyptic last stand chant!

Black Days Begin
Bouncy rock riff a la early Saxon into another complex weave of vocals in the verse with vocal distortion and panning. It’s clear Atreyu wrote 356 choruses and so the verses are nearly as strong and don’t waste time leading into the anthemia.

Gallows
Awesome Maiden-esque guitar lick intro, into ringing-out chords. Alex roars and calls as the driving tempo riff pounds on. Another album highlight, with its massive chorus and combination of Alex/Brandon’s voice giving aggression to the serene and beauty to the ugly. Some great little guitar touches in the background, a dense mix with things that leap out more and more with each listen. An absolute stormer.

Storm To Pass
The first slow-starter, with it’s plucked guitar and bass line. The chugging driving verse riff sees Alex singing, and he really can! So all vocal bases are covered from a cerebral punkiness to the scream and into the soaring clean vocals that pull on heart strings. This may sound a bit more on the pop side melodically, but it’s just so catchy you can’t deny awesomeness! Great solo with tons of gnarly pinches too.

You Were King, Now You’re Unconscious
Epic live intro thing, you might almost expect Killing Joke to come on stage to something like this. Building strings and a slightly digital peak. Massive drum rolls, add simple guitar riff – and repeat.
Into the song proper, the track is another of the more brooding aggressive tracks with the juxtaposed uplifting chorus. A semi-tone shifting bridge leads back into the darkness of the verse, but it soon rises back into the climactic chorus. The intro is back for the middle-eight and Alex is screaming as if he’s in a Converge audition. Broo. Tal.

Insatiable
Again, haunting guitars and a rattling hi-hat start off a massive sleazy 80s riff-fest. If you’re looking for a ‘Blow’ on this record here it is. Brandon’s drums just sound awesome and he and Alex vocalise the blinding chorus. Stripped back down to the bare bones the next verse builds with guitars and bass and more vocals into the bridge and massive chorus. It’s not hard to see Dan and Travis loving this track for it’s twin-harmonies and perfect shred – best solo by far. Rockin’ and dirty as fuck.

So Wrong
Alex is singing again, and the imperfection lends veracity and feels more real than a perfect auto-tuned voice. A good double/half time pounder. Some really nice twin-guitar parts too.

Ravenous
Up tempo, moody chords, great guitars and Alex screaming like his life depended on it. One of the heaviest sections of the album; that is before the chorus comes in. Again, more awesome shred with tons of trem wobble. Again, listen out for the subtle guitar lines in one side of the stereo, some awesome additions.

Lonely
Bouncy punky mid-tempo rock drums with ringing-out chords for the verse and a low key but hooky chorus. Great that out of 13 tracks, not one sounds like something you’ve heard before, melodically.

Wait for You
Atreyu proved they can do love-drenched emotionally war-torn and ballas-tastic. And ‘Wait For You’ – with it’s Bryan Adams piano – feels like it’s slow-dance material, but the vocals and guitars build, backed by strings and soon there’s a wall of melancholic noise. As the second verse comes round, there are now drums and the guitar distortion is higher in the mix. The tempo is slow-dance but with the weeping guitar lines and pleading vocals the track is more reminiscent of a Guns N’ Roses ballad than an AOR radio hit. And better for it!