ATREYU

[NWOWolfpack]

ATREYU BEGIN WORKING ON FOLLOW-UP TO LEAD SAILS PAPER ANCHOR

BAND ENTERS LOS ANGELES STUDIO WITH PRODUCER BOB MARLETTE


Los Angeles, CA – Orange County quintet ATREYU has entered Henson Studios in Los Angeles with producer Bob Marlette (Saliva, Seether, Ozzy) to begin work on the highly anticipated follow-up to 2007’s LEAD SAILS PAPER ANCHOR.

“We started as a heavy hardcore band,” says lead vocalist Alex Varkatzas, “and I think we’ve gotten away from that in recent years. The last record, for example, showcased us as a rock band with heavy parts. With this record, we want to return to our roots while also continuing to move forward. It’s about finding the right balance between the two.”

“This album will scream as a statement of where we’ve been, what we’ve become and where we will go,” adds drummer/vocalist Brandon Saller. “We think this record will be a huge marker in the life of Atreyu and we can’t wait to unveil it.”

According to Varkatzas, the band has demo’d 30 songs and plan to narrow it down to 16, with the goal being to finish recording by June. “The songs definitely have a dark, heavier feel and I think the current climate has a lot to do with that,” says the vocalist. “Personally, I just feel…angry and it’s coming out in the music. Failed bailouts, unemployment on the rise, troops still in Iraq—I watch all this stuff on the news and it carries over to the sessions. It gets me fired up.”

After initial drum sessions at Henson, the band and Marlette will move production to the producer’s Blue Room Studios in the San Fernando Valley. “I was anxious to work with these guys,” says Marlette. “They’re a great slamming live band with amazing power and a great signature sound. This is going to be a helluva record.”

LEAD SAILS PAPER ANCHOR debuted at No. 8 on Billboard’s Top 200, making it both the highest debut and highest-charting album of the band’s career. It followed 2006’s A Death-Grip On Yesterday, which entered the chart at No. 9. The album, which was produced by John Feldmann (The Used, Good Charlotte) and mixed by Andy Wallace (Nirvana, Slipknot, Linkin Park), drew rave reviews from media outlets around the world, including Metal Hammer, who declared it to be “a truly landmark album.” Kerrang! gave the record 4 K’s and Blender gave it 3 ½ stars and called it “metal that takes you to a magical bygone era.” Revolver awarded the album 4 stars and praised it for flowing “beautifully through the speakers” and for being “a coffin-tight collection of singles.” Touring in support of the album, the band shared stages alongside Korn and Evanescence on the Family Values Tour, blazed a headlining run of their own, co-headlined the Taste of Chaos Tour, then tore up stages as part of Linkin Park’s Projekt Revolution tour.

http://www.myspace.com/atreyu
http://www.atreyurock.com

[NWOWolfpack]

[NWOWolfpack]

The lead singer Alex is a brown belt in jiu-jitsu and thanks to Josh Barnett, PDG will have an interview with Alex coming soon...................

[NWOWolfpack]

[NWOWolfpack]

ATREYU REVEAL TRACK LIST FOR NEW ALBUM, CONGREGATION OF THE DAMNED, TO BE RELEASED OCTOBER 27


ATREYU TO RELEASE A SERIES OF WEBISODES ON THE MAKING OF THE ALBUM



Los Angeles, CA (September 03, 2009) – Following a critically and commercially successful album is no small feat for any band. For Atreyu, whose fourth full-length, Lead Sails Paper Anchor, sold over 315,000 copies, the task was even more daunting. That album marked a substantial shift for the group, expressing an explosively commercial and alternative side of Atreyu that had been largely unexplored. With their new album, CONGREGATION OF THE DAMNED, the members wanted to continue to develop musically, but at the same time return to more of the aggression and firepower they exhibited growing up in the hardcore metal-based scene of Orange County, California.



With a crumbling economy, environmental calamity and international strife as a backdrop, Atreyu -- Alex Varkatzas, guitarists Dan Jacobs and Travis Miguel, bassist Marc McKnight and drummer Brandon Saller – were able to write some of their strongest, most salient songs to date. CONGREGATION OF THE DAMNED, produced by Bob Marlette (Airborne, Ozzy Osbourne), mixed by Rich Costey (Mars Volta, System of A Down, Rage Against the Machine) with select tracks mixed by Noah Shain (Endless Hallway, Sonny),” comes out October 27, and is simultaneously crushing, exultant and unapologetic, delving further into Atreyu’s quest for the perfect melody while satisfying their taste for street-lethal riffs and ear-piercing solos.

Throughout the 13 songs on CONGREGATION OF THE DAMNED, Atreyu cover a variety of ground, including inflammatory and technic al hardcore (“Stop! Before It’s Too Late and We’ve Destroyed it All”), raging and anthemic metal (“Carried Away”), and brutally cinematic rock (“You Were the King Now You’re Unconscious”). At the same time, they make passing nods to the music they grew up on and still love, including Black Flag, Pantera, Iron Maiden, Judas Priest and Motley Crue.



While there is no shortage of euphoric sing-along melodies, the songs are more ferocious than anything since 2004’s The Curse. The subject matter is equally intense. “The music is heavier and so I was able to write darker lyrics,” explains vocalist Alex Varkatzas. “There’s personal shit on there: self-doubt, self-loathing. Bands who sing about happy things have their place, and I’m not singing about dark things to promote them, I’m singing about them so I don’t go insane. It’s pure catharsis. I make music so I don’t go crazy.”



Varkatzas finds himself in that darker territory with “Storm To Pass,” a song that has double meaning: the storm as depression, and the storms of war: “You can feel that depression coming on, you can see yourself doing fucked up things but you can’t stop it,” says Varktazas. “I grew up watching the first Iraq war and the invasion of various countries and how the whole thing became one giant shit storm.”



The full track listing for CONGREGATION OF THE DAMNED is as follows: “Stop! Before It’s Too Late and We’ve Destroyed it All,” “Bleeding is a Luxury,” “Carried Away,” “Coffin Nails,” “Black Days Begin,” “Gallows,” “Storm to Pass,” “You Were King Now You’re Unconscious,” “Insatiable,” “ So Wrong,” “Ravenous,” “Lonely” and the heart-on-sleeve piano ballad “Wait For You.”



In support of the album, every two weeks leading up to the October 27th release, Atreyu will debut a webisode documenting not only their thoughts on the new record, but they will also take a look back at where the band’s career has taken them over the course of the last 10 years. The first webisode is available now at http://www.atreyurock.com. The second installment will debut on September 8. A new webisode will post every two weeks with the final one posting on October 20th.

CONGREGATION OF THE DAMNED is the follow up to 2007’s Lead Sails Paper Anchor which was fueled by the Top 5 Active Rock hit “Becoming The Bull” and the #2 charting Alternative Rock hit “Falling Down.” The disc rocketed onto Billboa rd’s Rock and Hard Rock Album Charts at #1 and on Billboard’s Top 200 debuting at #8, making it the highest-charting album of the band’s career and landing them on the cover of Revolver Magazine, who called the disc "a coffin-tight collection of singles...the potential for hugeness is all over these 11 tunes...," while Metal Hammer declared it "a truly landmark album."



In addition, Atreyu have recorded three other studio albums, (including 2006’s A Death-Grip on Yesterday which also charted in the U.S. top ten), 2004’s The Curse, 2002's Suicide Notes and Butterfly Kisses, two EPs and a best of collection. Altogether, they’ve sold over 1.5 million albums plus another one million digital tracks. Their two most recent radio singles “Becoming the Bull” and “Falling Down” sold over 200,000 downloads each.



In between selling-out their own headlining tours, Atreyu have shared stages alongside Tool and Wolfmother at Epicenter 09, Slipknot and Alice in Chains at this year’s Rock on The Range, with Linkin Park on last year's Projekt Revolution tour, with Korn and Evanescence on the Family Values Tour, co-headlined the Rockstar Taste of Chaos U.S. tour with Avenged Sevenfold, headlined Rockstar Taste of Chaos International across Europe and Asia, played Warped Tour, Ozzfest, Download UK and were tapped to play this summer's Leeds and Reading Music Festivals.

[NWOWolfpack]