Atreyu- Lead Sails Paper Anchor (*)

Some bands begin their career as trailblazers with a specific sound, a great grasp of technicality, and with something poignant to say. Something, however invariably changes this whether it be a new label, producer, or maybe the band themselves gets lazy. For whatever the reason, this band will quietly bleed out until their final album rather than end their career with the illustrious bang they began it with.

Atreyu’s Lead Sails Paper Anchor is the prime example of this.

There was a time in metalcore where Alex Varkatzas’ twisted and caustic screams spewed acid about the desolation of his dark heart as well as his fixation about vampires. It was all matched by the guttural and eviscerating guitar talent of Travis Miguel and Dan Jacobs. To balance out the darkness was the angelic croon of drummer, Brandon Staller, as skilled at singing as he was at double bass. Rather than handing fans something along these lines with Lead Sails Paper Anchor, we are treated to the “progression” from 2005’s A Death Grip On Yesterday. Mediocre songs walk the line between ballad and midtempo never really choosing either, with every song containing the same “quiet-piano-bridge” that’s supposed to be “explorative” and radio friendly harmonies.

Here, aside from very few spurts of frantic guitar tapping, the technicality has been replace by watered down, radio friendly hard rock rather than the nightmarish and Gothenburg tinged melodies that gave us all the creeps. The album’s lead off track “Doomsday” attempts to sell itself as an invigorating call to arms but comes across as nothing more than something you’d hear at a frat mixer. There are the big shout outs, the dumb bone-headed lyrics about the apocalypse and how it’s more or less “bad” as well as the clear absence of Varkatzas’ howling scream.

Get used to it, the album never really picks up.

It’s understandable that Atreyu want to distance themselves from a scene that has become oversaturated with anyone willing to blow out their chords, but Varkatzas’ howl was part of what made them unique. No one could shriek like him and it made for a wonderful atmosphere. By no means does screaming equate to good music, but it was an exciting aspect of Atreyu’s sound that is all but absent save for the military flavored “Can’t Happen Here.” The aforementioned track and “Becoming The Bull” are the only songs on the album that come close to the Atreyu of A Death Grip On Yesterday but the guitars don’t seem to crunch the same way, the urgency is gone, and the studio gloss is at an all time high. And who ever thought the collaboration with Buckcherry on “Blow” was a good idea?

It also seems that much like Varkatzas’ scream, the band’s penchant for song writing has evaporated. They sound like third graders with lines like “So fucking blow those words out the back of your head!” This is from the same band that gave us “A wraith with and Angel's body/A demon with a smile of gold/You soulsucker!” Departure indeed. Really, their experimentation in melody and hooks comes together on the final balled, “Lead Sails (And A Paper Anchor)” as the overblown strings and the “sensitive” acoustic guitar over cascading harmonies actually makes for a vibrant arrangement. Unfortunately, the rest of the album feels like the band is searching for a #1 hit and it cheapens even great tracks like this. Atreyu has fallen into the common pitfall of becoming compliant with a radio friendly sound as well as losing everything that made them unique in the first place. While some will find this record catchy, that’s all this album has to offer. After three albums, Atreyu find themselves sinking with their lead sails, a process that might inevitably put them at the bottom of the sea.

Sounds Like: In The Wake Of Determination (Story Of The Year), The Crusade (Trivium), Lies For The Liars (The Used)

Key Cuts: Doomsday, Can’t Happen Here, Lead Sails (And A Paper Anchor)