I first became a fan of Atreyu two decades back with the release of ‘The Curse’, since when they have broken up, reformed, and even lost their original lead singer but Brandon Saller (vocals), Dan Jacobs (guitar), Travis Miguel (guitar), and Porter McKnight (bass) were all on that album and have been there ever since. Drummer Kyle Rosa joined in 2020 when Saller decided to concentrate just on vocals, but overall a very stable line-up. The band thought of undertaking a show similar to Nirvana’s MTV Unplugged as a one-off and recording it but then decided it would be better to go back into the studio and instead create something special. Originally this was going to be a solely acoustic album, but then they expanded it, looking back at old songs as well as working on a couple of covers, bringing in some friends to help out including Jacoby Shaddix (Papa Roach), Travis Barker (blink-182), and Matt Heafy (Trivium).

They also expanded what each band member was going to do, so Porter sings on “Ex’s & Ohs” while on “Right Side of the Bed” Dan provides a saxophone solo instead of guitar solo. The latter is the only song we get from ‘The Curse’, and there is nothing from the debut, but overall this is an interesting exercise in a band looking at their own material and wondering if it can be portrayed in a very different manner indeed, showing the quality of the songs even if they are not in the normal belting fashion. I do think they missed an opportunity to go back in time, as we get both “Warrior” and “Save Us,” from 2021’s ‘Baptize’ plus “Gone” and “Drowning” from their most recent release, 2023’s ‘The Beautiful Dark of Life’, so why not look more at the older classics? Is it because the two most recent albums are by this quintet, both recorded after the departure of Alex Varkatzas?

The two covers are Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers classic “Last Dance for Mary Jane” and the Audioslave’s “Like a Stone,” and it is this latter which is probably the highlight of the album with great rough vocals and some lovely dual Spanish guitar. However, while this is a reasonably enjoyable album, this is not what I expect from Atreyu, and I would much rather they were there with guitars blasting. I don’t believe they have ever released a full-on live album demonstrating just what they are like in that environment, and I would much rather have heard something like that as opposed to this, which feels somewhat self-indulgent.

Rating: 7/10

Links:
https://www.atreyuofficial.com/
https://www.spinefarmrecords.com/