This review can also serve as a very belated eulogy for Atreyu, as I don’t feel like I’ve ever given them a proper one. When I heard the news that Atreyu had called it a day, I was absolutely devastated, especially as I’d only ever seen them live once, supporting Bullet For My Valentine at Wembley Arena. Nonetheless, with Congregation of the Damned, Atreyu left an amazing last hoorah for all of their fans to rally around. It might not be as heavy as The Curse, or as catchy as Lead Sails, Paper Anchor, but I would argue it is one of their most solid albums and has moments of genuine heaviness and melody in equal measure.
Songs like opening track Stop! Before it’s too Late and We’ve Destroyed Ourselves and You Were the King but Now You’re Unconscious (which I’m pretty sure is about moshing) are fucking ferocious for the most part, lead vocalist and screaming demon Alex Varkatzas delivering a performance that sounded like a water buffalo had got it’s hoof caught in a blender. Whilst being killed by a leopard. With a hammer.
In a similar vein the vocal performance from drummer and clean vocalist Brandon Saller is melodic and heartfelt in equal measure, throwing out the choruses in Gallows and Coffin Nails with as much gusto as any other nutter in the industry. On the other hand, closing track Wait for You is a ballad of epic proportions, Alex now moving seamlessly to clean vocals and blending his voice with Brandon’s to not just pull on the heartstrings but hang off them, bush baby style.
This isn’t to say that the vocals steal the show completely though. Whilst it is true that for the most part they are the central theme in most music, on Congregation… there are some absolutely top-fucking-quality riffs thrown in as well. There is no doubt that the good ship Atreyu was crewed by some stellar musicians; the virtuoso intros to both Gallows and Stop! Before It’s Too Late… are a perfect testament to this. Even the sections which aren’t blisteringly fast or heavy as hell are still expertly crafted; Storm to Pass is as solid a hard rock song as you are likely to find anywhere in the market, somewhat reminiscent of Falling Down off Lead Sails…
I know some of you are thinking “why not do The Curse, on the whole it’s a better album?”. Well, if you delve deep enough into Congregation… you quickly discover that it is as good, if not better than The Curse. It may not be the album that the majority of people will remember Atreyu for, but it is the album that will always have a place in my heart as the swan song of a truly terrific, dependable band that almost certainly had so much more to give before they were taken from us.
