When a band return with new material after reforming you usually know what you’re going to get.
But with Atreyu it’s less clear. Will they go back to the vampire and gothic metalcore of their earliest material? Or is this a continuation of the glammed-up rockers that gave us that Bon Jovi cover?
The first two songs do their best to not show their hand. The title track opens with the kind of shiny, LA stomp that would suggest Atreyu have picked up where they left off, before Live To Labor breaks out a pit-starting metal riff and growled verse… but then veers into a Van Halen-style guitar histrionic fret-melt and a chorus so huge that it would have Gene Simmons pulling his wig off in frustration for not writing it first. And so it goes on throughout, the gruff bark of Alex Varkatzas and the melodic vocals of Brandon Saller trading punches and musical styles. Yes, no doubt you’ve heard this kind of thing before – even from Atreyu themselves – but it’s still eclectic and anthemic enough to keep your attention throughout. Atreyu haven’t reinvented the wheel on their return, but longtime fans of any era will lap up Long Live.
