Atreyu, "Lead Sails Paper Anchor"

SoCal headbangers evoke '80s metal on major label debut

By Kirk Miller, Metromix

August 27, 2007

 
Critic's Rating:
3

Atreyu, "Lead Sails Paper Anchor"
Lead Sails Paper Anchor
Release date:
August 28, 2007
Artist/Band name:
Atreyu
Record label:
Hollywood
Official Web Site:
http://atreyurock.com/
Backstory: From the same Orange County music scene that bred modern headbangers Eighteen Visions and Avenged Sevenfold comes Atreyu, who over the course of three albums have moved away from their shrieking metal/hardcore roots into a bizarre amalgam of '80s metal and emo. In that time, the group also sold over a million records, opened for Korn and moved to a major label.

Why you should care: Although the death metal screams and blitzkrieg rhythms of Atreyu's early work is gone, "Lead Sails" proves that the band was right to embrace the guitar solos, pop choruses and thundering drums from “Headbangers Ball” reruns of yore. And the record is ambitious—for every Buckcherry-like, cowbell-infused anthem like "Blow" (chorus: "blow those f---in' words out the back of your head"), there's "Lose It," which switches tempos, genres and instrumentation every few seconds (whoa, is that a theremin?).

Verdict: Although the band tries out a few too many styles (industrial, acoustic ballad, horns) and doesn’t quite settle down, "Lead Sails" has the basics right. It's loud, it's crude, and the guitar solos from axemen Dan Jacobs and Travis Miguel shred appropriately. Think of ‘em as Motley Crue for the Warped Tour crowd…and that's a compliment.

X-Factor: Did we say Crue? When they're not synchronizing their headbanging in concert, Atreyu have been known to pull out a pretty decent, irony-free cover of Bon Jovi's "You Give Love a Bad Name."

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