The Curse

Atreyu | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (June 29, 2004)
• Original Release Date: June 29, 2004
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Victory Records
• ASIN: B00025HM9U
• Also Available in: Audio CD  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (227 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #92,611 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Sounds good to me, December 13, 2005

By 

R. Martin "bunyak" (PA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Curse (Audio CD)

All these online music "experts" crack me up. If an album falls outside of somebodies beloved "emo", "screamo", "metal-core" or whatever genre they've attached themselves to, they bash the artist. Equally amusing are the ones who probably can't play an instrument but critique the musicians.

I've been a drummer for 25 years and listen to everything from James Taylor to Jay-Z to Cannibal Corpse. For what it's worth, I'm on my first spin of this disk and I'm digging it.

13 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars It All Depends On Your Taste Of Music !!!!!!!!!!, October 23, 2005

By 

Rogue Fox "Rogue" (the middle of nowhere,.....USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Curse (Audio CD)

Some people may ask "Should I Buy This",.... "What's so special about this band",...."What Kind of music they play!!!"... "Is this worth spending hard earned cash on!!!" I will try my best to answer these questions, but it all depends on your style of music.

Atreyu is part of a new genere called "Metalcore".... which is when you take elements ofdeath metal, punk, and stylish screamo/emo and mix it all together to make a pretty enjoyable sound. Metalcore is similar to the generes Nu-Metal a working in phads and popularity; but both in different ways.

Nu-Metal is mainstream metal like: KoRn, Slipknot, Drowning Pool, Hatebreed, Defnotes, Helmet, and Disturbed, which is more of a mixture of altenative and/or rap in ways mainly aimed at MTV and mainstream, which isn't popular with Metalheads, but it can sometimes be enjoyable. No it isn't as heavy as regular metal, mostly based around popularity and money. Most of these bands at one point become sell outs,... and from where I come from we hate sell outs,... who take orders from MTV!!!

Metalcore is mainstream with different orgins, but aimed at the Ozzfest crowd and metalheads. Some good, metalcore bands are: Atreyu, Underoath, Killswitch Engage, As I Lay Dying, Unearth, Silverstien, Scars of Tommorow, and so on so forth. These bands are heavy but considered to poppy by some hardcore Metalheads, and while also piising off the emo crowd at the same time. I myself like Metalcore's style pushing the envelope with their new style of music. No, believe me this isn't death metal,....!!!

Most negative reviews come from death metal fans( like me), .... they actually try to compare this to death metal. You can't compare two different kinds of music; it's an endless cycle of people trying to compare music; like for example:

Atreyu vs. Lamb of God:

A lot of metal fans use this match up to make some kind of point on how "Lamb of God" is heavier than "Atreyu". Yes, in fact I'm a hardcore "Lamb of God" fan,... and of course they are batter, but impossible to compare; with different origins and such. Different styles are impossible to compare.

This comparison even isn't a fair fight. Lamb of God is about 10 times as heavier as Atreyu; with 80's trash metal(like Pantera and Metallica) roots, while adding a cutting edge death metal feel of Slayer; using the same basic set ups and riffs from the band. Yes, Lamb of God knows how to use their equipment better; with machine gun drumming, unbelievable guitar playing, and very agressive vocals, using more of a raw edge. Of, course they have better sound quality, since they have a major record deal with Sony records.

Atreyu, kind of gets it's origin from many different places one example could be the Swedish melodic Death Metal band "At The Gates", and of corse taking a punk feel from the "The Sex Pistols", and maybe a bit of an emo feel with a touch of "My Chemical Romance"(hate them!!!), but you can defintly see they mostly focus on the melodic Death Metal elements of their music. They use two vocalists Bradon Saller who drums and has the heavier voice; and then you have Alex Volaxyis who adds more to the melody or rythm; with the softer voice. They aren't as heavy as "Lamb of God", but have a complex feel, though Atreyu isn't the best metalcore band around; could maybe be a little heavier in my opinion. They don't have the best sound production in the world, being part of Victory Records a newer label housing many new metalcore bands like: Silverstien, Scars of Tommorow, Comeback Kid, and of course Atreyu!!!

My whole point of this segment called Lamb of God vs. Atreyu is that you can't compare two different types of music people. There will always be something heavier or lighter. Yeah you have your rap/hip hop fans bashing country and vice versa. While you have Atreyu fans saying that people who like Lamb of God are crazy and are a bunch of evil, and sick perveted goths who praise Metallica as a god,..... which isn't true!!! Then you have your Lamb of God fans saying that Atreyu fans are a bunch of whimpy emo loving, tasteless punks, who can't take real music like Lamb of God, Shadows Fall, or In Flames, which may not be true for... some.. Atreyu fans!!!

Will everybody just...... Shut Up and ask yourself how the hell are you helping people buy freaken' music!!! It all depends on your taste in music, gosh I'm tired of every body judging music and calling me a 13 year old skater punk, rebeling against the world. So people will everybody just stop judging people or different kinds of music please,... I'm sick of this!!!

Atreyu has plenty to offer, for open minded people!!! "The Curse" overall is a very solid album with lots of sweet material. I liked the album,.... no believ me it's no Metallica but they still give your ears a wonderful experience. Yes, this music is for an heavier audience. Metalcore, even with all the mixtures of music is metal at heart so if you don't like metal, .... why are you even reading this review. Anyways, I liked how the album flowed on in complete unsion, with a bunch of great songs like: "Bleeding Mascra", "My Sanity on the Funeral Pyre", "Corseting", "The Crimson", "Demonology of Heartache", and "Right Side of the Bed".... there were a few others that were pretty good as well, in fact about 10 songs out of 13 are 8 of them (listed above stand out)!!! Yes, I've heard better a little lighter for my taste but, I have no regrets buying the album.

You also get a bonus disc from Victory Records that gives you a sample song from some of the new metalcore bands under there banner, so in a way it's a good buy and kind of gives you an idea on what to buy. Atreyu can be considered a shopping guide. Hardcore Emo fans and Hardcore Death Metal fans have their reasons for disliking metal core.... I though have an open mind and say heck give this a try and you can taste the Metalcore genere and see if you like it.

Overall, I will give this album a 4/5... great album for metalcore fans. You should check out the growing genere!!!

-Rogue Fox "Rogue"
Music Critic

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Forget the genres..., August 8, 2004

By 

Greg Grady (dallas) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Curse (Audio CD)

I think its everyday that some new genre is made up weather it be..."grind-core, chaos-core, hard-core, metal-core, melodic-core...

It is one of the stupidest things i have ever seen, people continually try to rip every aspect of this music apart to give it a name. Who cares what it is? You cant just label a band...a band always has more parts rather than just one skill that makes it categorized. I think the only genre you need to know is metal...then give it a try and listen to it and decide if you like it or not. You dont need this crap saying ya its a nu-metal formula with a tad of hardcore thrown in with some symphonycore. Just listen to it and decide...there is no point in arguing one what type of genre a music is, that goes around the whole point on if something is good.

To the music, I dont think this is hard but i enjoy it. Yes, they have gone more mainstream but i dont think it has become anything bad rather different. Cant really say if they sold out and neither can anyone else because they dont know what the band was thinking when they wrote this. I honestly wouldnt have thought it was the same band if i didint know the artist. SN and BK was more intense than this but they somewhat keep that edge and in todays radio airwaves i dont see how anything like this would ever become THAT mainstream, there is still plenty of screaming but other than the last one that had very little clean vocals, this one is full of it. What some people have become so mad about is they feel they have lost their formula what made them so great on the past album. Weather you like the lyrics or not...weather they are to depressing or too girly, they are still well written and emotional. What i mean by that is you can tell the singer wrote it because of what he feels. They can be over-done and too sappy or what not but that doesnt take away from how good they are. Atreyu stays creative and i believe are just taking more critizing becuase they have become more fan based. Depending on what some people thing, i dont think this is heavy. In past reviews i have said screaming does not mean heavy. The guitars are simply not something that makes it brutal to my ears. The riffs are simply played to high for me to think its hard. I must say i enjoy his screaming rather than alot of bands. It doesnt get old to me and he makes it listenable rather than just a constant monotone noise. Atreyu had simply high expectaions for themselves trying to force too many talents into one which sometimes causes other areas to be lacking.

Pros:
-If your looking to cry how your life sucks, this album is for you to get suicidal over and let you continue to wallow in self pity.
-Very melodic, rides well together and the rythem works out great.
-Good talent all around, the vocal range spreads at all levels.
-Guitar is good, riffs are catchy.
-They have the foundation to appeal to people of all kinds of taste

Cons
-Whiny lyrics to some...if you dont want to hear more pity singing then either ignore the lyrics or dont get this.
-Not exactly "brutal" music, just doesnt bring the heaviness to your ears, mostly because the way it was written.
-A band that was original has sort of fallen in a list with bands who have done this before, therefore making this release somewhat not as stand out for its beauty rather than its catchiness.
-For some this could be way too much of a change from the first album to the 2nd, they have lessened the screaming from which the first had about 98% and this is pretty much 30% screaming...and the screaming is actually comprehensible, which i find a plus.

The talent, melody, rythem, creativeness is there but i dont think we will ever see anything like SN and BK. Dont be surprised to see the hot topic bred babies running around listening to this stuff anytime soon. All good music has to end, has to be over-played, and most of all over-publicized. I believe that Atreyus music is changing in moderation but it still remains good to many ears.