Metal isn’t dead.
American metalcore band Atreyu released their sixth studio album Long Live on September 18th, after a three year hiatus.
Atreyu fans had been anticipating this sixth album for several years, and the band certainly didn’t let them down. In an interview with Excalibur, Dan Jacobs, guitarist of Atreyu, says that the band played some of the new songs live and the reaction was positive.
“We are starting to see more and more people singing along in shows,” says Jacobs. [su_quote]It’s going to be amazing. We are going to able to play to play new songs and to hear fresh voices singing fresh music.[/su_quote]
Atreyu released the music video of their first song “Long Live,” which shares the name with the album, on YouTube in July and it has already had over 540,000 views. The opening title track blasts open this musical journey with fast double-kick and a series of typically intense metalcore riffage, announcing their glorious return to the metal scene.
Formed in 1998, Atreyu has become a well-known name in the metal community, with two of their albums peaking top ten on the Billboard 200 chart. The band’s arguably most successful album, 2004’s The Curse has sold over 500,000 copies and was ranked number 1 on the Top Independent Albums chart.
Of the new songs, Jacobs admits “Long Live” is his favourite to play. As lead guitarist and writer, Jacobs adds that he originally wrote the bridge for “A Bitter Broken Memory” for their 2006 album A Death-Grip On Yesterday but it didn’t make the cut. It was also not included in the 2009 Congregation of the Damned.
“It finally made it on this album,” says Jacob. “It’s perfect there.”
Atreyu is now on their fall North American Tour, having visited Toronto on October 5.
“Canada’s always a really good market for us. The shows are usually very energetic and [there are] lots of people singing along. It’s got a different energy than the US crowd, a better energy,” says Jacobs.
James Zhan, Staff Writer
With files from Victoria Goldberg
Featured image courtesy of Atreyu
