A Death Grip On Yesterday Review

I bought the new Atreyu cd with some trepidation. I had heard from several people that it was the worst cd yet. I bought it anyway, and tried to take an unbiased listen.

Atreyu just keeps getting better. Each cd-Fractures in the Facade of Your Porcelain Beauty, Suicide Notes and Butterfly Kisses, and The Curse-were each superior to the one preceding it. The same can be said of A Death Grip on Yesterday. I didn't think Atreyu could ever top The Curse, but clearly they have.

Atreyu can't be compared to any other band. They have a unique sound all their own, which is refreshing after the pop and punk clones being endorsed in the media. They don't fit into any genres either...too emo for metal, too metal for emo.

The roles of the two singers have always been black and white. Alex Varkatzas screamed, Brandon Saller sang. In Death Grip, they have blurred the line between their roles. Varkatzas has revealed a surprisingly sweet voice while taking on more singing parts, and Saller's voice has taken on an edge, and he even does the scream part a couple of times.

The lyrics haven't changed a lot. Varkatzas still sings bitter anthems about how women have screwed him over, but Atreyu wouldn't be Atreyu without those kinds of songs. Metal music isn't known for their diversity of themes, so the lack of ideas isn't a problem for Atreyu. The first three songs start to all sound the same to the point when you're not sure where one ends and the next begins, but they surprise you again with The Theft, a major sounding song mainly sung by Varkatzas, with a sprinkling of screaming. Thrown into the mix is bassist Marc McKnight, who also shows off his scream singing skills.

There is not a bad song on this cd.
I have no doubt that the next Atreyu cd will be better, or at least different than Death Grip. With a band that grows and evolves all the time, you can never get bored.
4/5