Atreyu - Congregation of the Damned
By: Ken Brzezinski
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Tuesday November 17, 2009
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Heavy metal started in dank rural and industrial towns all over the United Kingdom. It’s forefathers, Black Sabbath, brought a sound never heard before crushing through the speakers of millions of people. The next generation of great metal came from who are known as “the big 4”, Slayer, Anthrax, Megadeth, and of course Metallica. Not only did they take what Sabbath and other New Wave of British Heavy Metal bands had laid down before them, but they took from the undisputed attitude of punk rock. The simplicity and the speed of punk combined with the darkness and the virtuosity of early metal exploded in the early 1980’s. Metal in the 1990’s splintered greatly between the mainstream and the underground. A lot of the underground stuck more to the speed and punk influence where the mainstream acts liked more of the slow, detuned grooves of Black Sabbath.
But then something magical happened. A new breed of metaller dawned. Ironically, from the sunnier spots of the US and not the dreary English isles where so many came from before. They, like the last great generation of metallers combined the best of the music that came before them. This, time, however, not only did they keep the speed, the intensity, and the amazing solos; they combined it with the epic song writing of bands like Guns ‘N Roses. Now, there are strings in metal. And when you combine that with the rest of its history, you have an unstoppable force like Atreyu. And that is no more evident than it is on their album Congregation of the Damned.
Congregation is just that, a congregation or a collection. A collection of awesome riffs, a collection of amazing solo’s, a collection of mind blowing hooks, and a collection of the best songs Atreyu has ever written. The album starts out almost like you’d hear a live album start out; with a hanging power chord fading up, as if they’d just got done sound checking and are ready to kick into it. And boy do they! Either Travis or Dan let loose with a solo that is reminiscent of old Judas Priest axery. That is shortly followed not the patented hardcore screams of Alex Varkatzas, but by a very low, almost Jonathan Davis sounding. This eventually kicks into a massive chorus, complete with guitar harmonies, just awesome stuff.
It’s kind of funny as there are tunes that the band is clearly trying to be more melodic and some where they are just, as Alex has called them “sh*t kickers.” They almost come in at every other song, which also makes the album semi-formulaic. One of these more melodic songs is “Storm to Pass”. Just like every great song, it’s dynamic at its core. It starts out very slow and pretty, adds another dimension with a great bass line and then kicks into 4th gear when the verse comes in and, of course, a 90th gear when the chorus comes in. But what I really like is in the bridge, just before the first note of the chorus, you get this virtuosic drum work from Brandon Salle that is just f*cking killer!
Like anything that’s great, Congregation of the Damned saves the best for last. “Wait For You” is a pure piece of melodic and emotional power metal. In truly the most colorful song on the album, solos soar instead of shred, riffs have chords that hang wide open instead of frantically trying to find their next step, and we even get the loudest presence of a string chorus I’ve heard on a mainstream metal album since Metallica’s S&M. And to top it off, it’s done with the care and articulation of a “November Rain”. It really is on that level.
As is the rest of this album. If you aren’t a fan of the nice melodicness, there are plenty of hard and heavy riffs to satiate that beast within. If you can only take so much of that monster riffing, there are these great melodic pieces that will set your mind at ease. The bottom line is, this is an album, like every other album, that you need to hear.
