Just what is it about the newly signed Atreyu to Victory Records that makes them so special? Well, for one thing, they're not sucktacular like Taking Back Sunday. Atreyu actually has some edge and violence to their music, something Victory has really been missing for a while. But most of all, Atreyu provides a style of music that only they can offer. They have that unique quality of being able to sound like every band all rolled into one, yet not sounding specifically like anyone at all.
"Suicide Notes and Butterfly Kisses" opens with "A Song for the Optimists", which is a song that more or less sets the whole tone for the CD. Through piercing guitar notes, metal riffs, and full out violence that would give Danzig a hard-on, Atreyu also manages to mix in some singing and melody here and there. Some of the more peaceful parts that stand out are the slower bridge in "Dilated", which goes something like, "My arms feel so numb, my heart palpitates missing a beat, the blood freezing in my veins, the taste of rust in my mouth, but today I just threw it all away". At times like this, they sound like what this.day.forward used to be like. I think if you were at all as disappointed with the new this.day.forward EP as I was, Atreyu will be a band that will kick your sorry ass right back into reality and out of sappy suckland.
So who does like violence and mayhem mixed with some melody and order? Take the best qualities of metalcore bands like Unearth, Martyr AD and Drowningman, then add in some of the more melodic hardcore bands sound and presto, you have the almighty ass kicking band that basically does what all of those bands do through endless CDs, with a mere ten songs. And this ultimate band is named Atreyu.
Songs like "Dilated", "Ain't Love Grand", "Living Each Day Like You're Already Dead" and "At Least I Know I'm a Sinner" stand out as some of my favorites, but honestly, once I put this CD in and crank it as loud as it can go, unleashing doom and chaos amongst all those who surround me, I just let it play through until the very last note.
There are a lot of lines and certain parts to the songs that I find moving as well, but to keep it simplest and easiest, I'll give you the chorus from "Ain't Love Grand": "It's so hard to see when your eyes are rolling in the back of your head, it's even harder to speak when everything you say just comes out wrong"- and listening to that, you'll truely find the greatness that is mixing the melody and destruction- and finally, I will give you one simple line from "At Least I Know I'm a Sinner": "Judge me, fuck you, stop playing God".
My final thought of this CD is really quite a simple one. Anyone who listens to hardcore, metal, metalcore or anything along those lines (basically if you even own a Poison the Well or Disembodied CD), then you must add this to your collection. Given the melody though and true musician craftsmenship, I would also say people who don't like hardcore/metalcore and maybe listen to pop punk or something lighter could still get a lot out of this CD. Basically, if you don't own this CD, you have to ask yourself why not.