Atreyu - The Curse

Thu 8th Jul, 2004 in Music Reviews

Confliction. Yeah I guess that’s what you’d call it. See, I like this album. I really do. But I’m divided and it seems to happen a lot these days. I’ll explain as you read on.

I’m a nu-metal fan. I like Sunk Loto, Superheist, Deftones, The Butterfly Effect and so on. So it was with excitement that I read the media blurb on Atreyu’s new album The Curse, in which it stated that this was the new form of nu/hard metal. Obviously you don’t take something like that literally, but nonetheless it must be close to hitting some sort of melodic ballpark. And I guess it did.

The Curse is an exciting album and I like these Southern Californian boys style. The album is fast paced and comprises of a deep mix of heavy screaming and soft harmonic vocals. And that’s where my confliction kicks in. Depending on what you like, chances are you’re neither going to love nor hate this album. That’s because one side of it is hardcore, throat-destroying screaming, which is opposed by translucent, melodic singing. So those people who like the screaming will hate the singing, and those people who like the singing (yours truly) will hate the bloody screaming! And there’s the confliction. Do I write a good review or a bad one or a neutral one for this reason? Well, like what most reviews would be of this album, it’s a neutral one with a leaning towards the very good.

The album starts off with a nice little intro (similar to the intros on Korn’s or Slipknot’s albums). As for the rest of it, well there’s no point going into detail of each song, they’re all pretty similar, but this isn’t necessarily a bad thing! To make comparisons, this band sounds like a cross between Superheist (but with screaming) and Bodyjar – the choruses are often played and sung like that work of those Melbourne punks. And in actual fact, the result is a nice contrasting one that actually sounds pretty decent. The first two tracks, Bleeding Mascara and Right Side Of The Bed, the first single off the album are eccentric and disturbing – the opposing sounds working well to create a passionate atmosphere. This Flesh A Tomb is also an enjoyable montage of music, as are most of the songs on the album. There is an interlude, which tries to slow down the pace a bit and track twelve, Nevada’s Grace, has a very flowing, stoner rock edge to it.

Oh yeah and that’s another thing. The funny thing about this album is that the lyrics are really lovey-dovey. To the untrained ear, you’d think Alex was screaming about everything that’s wrong in the world. Instead, he’s saying “I stared in her eyes and saw some pieces that say goodbye” or “What the fuck do you think love is? It’s more important than your own feelings”. And that’s cool – it brings about a layer of emotion into the music.

The Curse is a good album – I guess I’m just bringing in some unprofessional subjective view when I say that I hate the screaming. But even after that, at the end of the day it’s still a good metal piece that deserves some cred. If you like music that jumps from metal to melody, then give it a whirl. Just don’t tell me I didn’t warn you about the screaming.