Atreyu at Roseland Ballroom

October 26– Hardcore band Atreyu celebrated the release of their newest album, Congregation Of The Damned, with a co-headlining spot on the Vatos Locos tour with Hollywood Undead. Unleashing hell on stage is common for any band in the hardcore/metalcore genre, yet Atreyu seemed to be able to do it better than most and without even breaking a sweat.

Atreyu’s dominance of the stage became apparent within the first few seconds of their opening song– with guitars blaring, harsh drumming, and gruff vocals greeting the crowd of Roseland Ballroom, the audience was in for a treat.

Dual vocalists Alex Varkatzas and Brandon Sallar (who is also Atreyu’s drummer) allowed the band to have some variety within their vocals, with Varkatzas taking the harsher screaming and wailing, while Sallar provided the clean vocals usually found within the choruses of their songs. These two vocalists blended well with the metalcore sound of the rest of the band. Their spot-on vocals, combined with the musical skill of the rest of the band, definitely impressed me. Not only were they able to “shred faces” and take names, but they looked like they had fun doing it.

The band’s type of metalcore is more accessible to music fans. The band mixes their sound up, varying from heavier songs like “Stop! Before It’s Too Late and We’ve Destroyed It All” and “Ex’s and Oh’s” to smoother and more melodic songs like “When Two Are One” and “Falling Down.” This mix allowed moshing fans to get their pits open, but still left room for the casual listener to have fun.

Atreyu concluded their hour long set with fan-favorite “Lip Gloss and Black”, which ended with an epic chant of the lyrics “Live, Love, Burn, Die!” With this final song, Atreyu left the stage to a glorious roar from those attending.