Review: Atreyu – Congregation Of The Damned

October 29th, 2009 by Oswald Hobbes / Comment on this post

Atreyu - Congregation of the Damned Album Art (Link opens in iTunes)

Based on the title and cover art alone, you might guess this is a new Slayer release. Unfortunately, you’d be wrong – Congregation Of The Damned (Opens in iTunes) is the fifth release from California’s Atreyu, and it’s another predictable-but-pleasing collection of shouty metalcore.

When we describe metal albums as “punishing,” that’s typically a compliment. But with Congregation of the Damned, the punishment comes in the form of the sugary choruses and symphonic twaddle that keep popping up, over and over again, to ruin what are otherwise pretty fierce tracks. The record begins with “Stop! Before It’s Too Late And We’ve Destroyed It All,” and the track showcases both the best and worst of Atreyu: lightning-quick guitar noodles and double-kick drums propel the track forward, but it races straight into its brick wall of a chrous. This pattern is broken only when the boys decide to slow it down and make sweet ear-love to you, and that’s when shit really gets awkward: album closer “Wait For You” is a ballad that would embarrass Aerosmith, while “Lonely” and “So wrong” are the kind of emo whiners that keep bands like Atreyu firmly in the Hot Topic ghetto.

Which is a shame, because there are moments of real brilliance here: “You Were King, Now You’re Unconscious” is the record’s centerpiece, and opens like “Raining Blood” with some cacophonous noise and a white-hot riff. But (and there’s always a “but” with this band) they get lost early into the five-minute runtime with another generically gruff chorus. And the title track has some nifty gang vox, but they’re in service of a lyrical conceit that doesn’t deserve to drive an entire record. Indeed, throughout the proceedings it seems as if lead singer Alex Varkatazas is on the verge of singing something worthwile that might connect the obvious themes running amok here, but that moment never comes; these are deep thoughts only half-thunk. So the boys fare much better when they drop the social commentary and just shred, as on “Ravenous,” the best track in a surprisingly strong back-half run of viciousness. This is the kind of stuff Atreyu should make their priority: it’s music for snorting coke in Sunset Strip bathrooms, and along with the powerful “Black Days Begin,” it offers some of the only real fun on the disc.

For forty-eight minutes, Atreyu stand at the cusp of brutality but consistently pull back just when it’s time to push forward: these guys stare at the void rather than driving straight into it. When they finally learn to trust their metal instincts and knock off the mainstream-baiting pop choruses, they might serve up some music worthy of their admittedly cool visual imagery.