Already in the beginning of the first song off this album "A song for the optimists", you know you're in for something cool. The singer enters the song with his throat-cancer like voice (not in a bad way). Melodic metal riffs with a poppier punk side without being poppy. arghhh..it's not easy to explain what Atreyu sounds like.
Anyway....here's my song-for-song review:
1) A SONG FOR THE OPTIMISTS 8,5/10
I really like this song. It's got double bass drumming and melodic tremolo-picking riffing through the verse, and is an overall melodic song with many different good melodic parts. The drummer sings a melodic bit on this one and I don't know if his voice fits that well to the music?. Nice song!!
2)DILATED 7/10
More metal riffing! A more "punky" edge on the music on this one though, and not as convincing melodies. The outro in this song is the best parts of it. It would probably make Iron Maiden proud.
3)AIN'T LOVE GRAND 6/10
Probably a popular song amongst many. It is melodic, but I don't really think it's anywhere close to this album's first track in variety. Also, the drummer sings alot on this song. Not a bad song, and it does get stuck in my head sometimes, but well....a 6 is enough.
4)LIVING EACH DAY LIKE YOU'RE ALREADY DEAD 6,5/10
A diverse song. A nice mid-tempo chorus with the drummer singing over melodic octave chords. Probably a little better than the last song, but it doesn't reach the heights of the first two.
5)DEANNE THE ARSONIST 8/10
YEAH! A beautiful In Flames-style intro which leads into a melodic verse with the "throat cancer voice" singer singing. Then it turns more into a hardcore song with breakdowns and stuff. The best song since the first one!
6)SOMEONE'S STANDING ON MY SHOULDER 8/10
Starts with the hardcore edge the last song ended with, but turns more and more melodic as the song goes on. Around the 2,30 mark the singer starts singing a catchy hook with the rememberable lyrics "please don't worry too much, it only hurts when I breathe". After this a GREAT melodic metal riff that makes me wanna headbang and go crazy is played until the song is over. Double bass drumming under it! woa! good stuff!
7)AT LEAST I KNOW I'M A SINNER 9/10
The best song on the album.
This is the lyrics of the great fast catchy metalriff chorus
"Raise your heads, unclasp your hands,
your weakness makes me tremble
True strength comes from within
And we were given this life to live,
not exist under standards, set by some bull**** rule book"
AWESOME! check this one out for sure.
8)TULIPS ARE BETTER 6/10
Not really a bad song, but nothing special.
9)A VAMPIRE'S LAMENT 7/10
Nice intro and ending! but this song doesn't reach the heights of the best songs on the album.
10)LIP GLOSS AND BLACK 8,5/10
The last song on this album is about as good as the first one, but in a different way. This song is long and kinda epic. Superb ending with piano and everything!
Overall rating....a strong 3 or a weak 4 out of 5. Some songs are better than the others and stand out.
let's be generous and give a 4/5
defenitely worth checking out this one