Over the past decade, the once-notorious metalcore band, Atreyu have been going through a metamorphosis of sorts. From breakdowns and screams to grand sing-along choruses and arena-rock sounds, the band seems like they’ve set their sights and hearts on a sound dedicated to a bigger space, arenas, and stadiums instead of their frequented small academy slots where the band originally gained fame. This of course has been met with a strong mixture of love and derision from fans and foes alike since the release of their album In Our Wake. With the last album receiving polarising reviews across the board, will the latest of a collection of EP projects, The Moment You Find Your Flame (Spinefarm) allow the band to start winning back audiences and critics alike?
‘Good Enough’ sets the tone of the album, prefacing with keys, strings, and effects before launching into a bold guitar riff. From there elements of Beartooth and I Prevail can be heard in the tag team scream-clean vocals. Clearly the band hasn’t fully departed from their heavier metalcore origins. The chorus is where the song shines, Brendon Saller’s vocals haven’t sounded better in the past five years. Where the song takes a downturn is with each of the heavier sections, always acting as if they’re about to build into something bigger, before heading straight back into the chorus or another clean section it seems as if the band are wanting to appease both the clean vocal-chorus and heavy vocals-breakdown crowds but aren’t willing to give a full section to the latter half.
This is replicated to an extent on the following track ‘Immortal’, stunning clean sections for the majority of the song, showing off the band’s newfound talents of creating great radio rock choruses to rival the likes of Shinedown, but out of nowhere comes a breakdown which in all fairness does hit hard, but doesn’t last long enough to make an impact or is built up enough for the audiences to see it coming.
‘Gone’, the following song, shows the band fully going into the radio rock sound. Saller is on full form leading the song at every turn. It really shows what the band can be once they fully set their sights on something. The chorus gives elements of A Day To Remember meeting Shinedown in a bold, radio rock anthem. You can see the band performing this at American open-air festivals to crowds of thousands. When the song goes into the breakdown, it feels earned and the decision to take that into a guitar solo does wonders to letting the song breathe out on its own.
The issues that cropped up on the previous album are still present on this EP, however, they are dwindling. It seems that Atreyu definitely has the building blocks in order to create a great set of songs, however, it feels like they’re so focused on appeasing all sides of their fanbase, they’re not hitting a specific side well enough. In a world of bands like I Prevail and Beartooth, taking more of a leaf out of their book in organising the heavies with the cleans may be what the band needs to bring their sounds to the next level. The Moment You Find Your Flame is a strong start, hopefully, the band will find their flame with the next EP installment.
Buy the EP here:
https://www.atreyuofficial.com/
6 / 10
CHARLIE HILL