Review Summary: The founders of metalcore re-establish their sound with their horn fingers held high
Atreyu have blessed us with a short morsel of sound 12-minutes long in their newest EP, The Hope of a Spark, symbolically reigniting themselves again for their newfound audience in the hard rock scene. Although this EP serves as their first material without founding member Alex Varkatsaz, it musically picks up where
Baptize left off, serving punchy riffs, anthemic choruses, and loud, clean production. It was produced by their prior collaborator John Feldman, so look forward to loud and proud music blessed by his tender touch. The band is as competent as they've ever been, Brandon taking the lead for the band and officially making a palatable experience obviously made with crowd pleasing intent. No new ground is broken musically, but Atreyu have morphed into the most radio friendly version of themselves to date, shaking off any lingering remnants of their old hang-ups as a band. Everything here is designed to be the most successful forms of formulaic, to soaring choir backed vocals, quotable fist-pumping choruses, and punchy riffs and hard-hitting drumming. They do lose a bit of their identity here in the process, but to reiterate, everything is competent, and the band seems to have good chemistry and a better sense of how they want to play together. Their new drummer, Kyle Rosa, manages to keep pace with the rest of the band and the bassist pulls double duties with the harsh vocals now. He sadly does not adopt the dry heaves of Alex, but the classic standard of shrill shrieks with a pinch of a guttural or two.
Thematically, I find the EP unimpressive. Atreyu offer no new development to themselves or the greater music scene, providing ideas and feelings all too familiar, and yet I think these songs will succeed in creating hits for them. My fondest memories of this band are when I could intentionally say, "Only Atreyu sounds like this" for all of their faults (and they were many). For even the most beautiful maiden probably has a mole on her inner thigh, we love them with their imperfections, for it makes them unique. These songs sound like every other song on the rock station. I would not be able to tell if this was Atreyu if I didn't have the information beforehand, the EP is incredibly short but it feels so much shorter because it's designed to blend into itself. In the annals of time, as more and more music is made available, endless streams of sound, the children will hear the sound of the Spark of a Hope and then look away.
