Atreyu

Atreyu surfaced in Southern California amid the rap-metal surge near the millennium's start, where their twisted, lowered guitar tunings pair with thunderous percussion and sharp vocals to lend the songs a clear metalcore bite. The group first performed as Retribution before taking the name Atreyu from a figure in Michael Ende's fantasy novel The Neverending Story, then issued their opening full-length Suicide Notes and Butterfly Kisses on Victory Records in 2002. They kept sharpening their punishing yet tuneful post-hardcore approach across standout career releases such as Lead Sails Paper Anchor in 2007 and Congregation of the Damned in 2009, until entering a hiatus in 2011. Four years afterward the musicians regrouped to deliver their sixth studio album Long Live, with In Our Wake arriving in 2018. Following a vocalist shift, Atreyu presented themselves anew on 2021's Baptize and reinforced their metalcore standing with the commanding 2023 effort The Beautiful Dark of Life. In 2024 the band revisited key tracks on the Pronoia Sessions.

Brandon Saller on drums and vocals, Dan Jacobs on guitar, Chris Thomson on bass, Travis Miguel on guitar, and Alex Varkatzas on vocals formed the five-piece in Orange County. Atreyu circulated several demos, among them the seven-track EP Visions, during the late 1990s, then made their commercial entrance with the Fractures in the Facade of Your Porcelain Beauty EP on Tribunal in late 2001; the complete Suicide Notes and Butterfly Kisses followed the next year on Victory. Maintaining a near-constant touring schedule behind the album, the lineup shifted when bassist Marc McKnight replaced Thomson ahead of the next recording. Their second album The Curse appeared in June 2004, eventually moving more than 300,000 units, and received a reissue with DVD the following year.

The musicians maintained an intense road schedule that included 2004's Ozzfest and 2005's Warped Tour plus their own headlining global trek. They supplied a song to the 2006 Underworld: Evolution soundtrack and ranked near the top of the Taste of Chaos bill that year alongside the Deftones and Thrice. Their subsequent record A Death Grip on Yesterday came out in late March 2006 and reached number nine on the Billboard charts. After headlining the second stage at that summer's Ozzfest, Atreyu signed with Hollywood Records and left behind an early 2007 best-of set as their Victory farewell. Their Hollywood debut Lead Sails Paper Anchor arrived later the same year; a 2008 reissue added bonus material and a concert film.

Atreyu moved quickly, releasing their fifth studio album, the widely praised Congregation of the Damned, in late 2009. That would be their final output for several years, as the band paused activity the next year to attend to family and separate musical projects. They returned in 2015 with Long Live on Destroy/Spinefarm Records, which contained twelve new aggressive songs highlighted by the fierce title track and lead single. In September 2018 the group previewed three singles ahead of their eighth studio album In Our Wake, which surfaced that October. Once promotion wrapped, the musicians toured to mark twenty years together.

In 2020 Atreyu confirmed the exit of founding vocalist Varkatzas. Brandon Saller assumed clean vocal duties while McKnight handled the harsher parts, and drummer Kyle Rosa joined the lineup. The refreshed group released "Save Us" that year; the song later appeared on their eighth album Baptize in 2021. The single "Warrior" featuring Travis Barker also appeared on the record. Continuing the direction of its predecessor, 2023's The Beautiful Dark of Life incorporated additional melodic and pop elements without losing the band's molten metal foundation. The following year brought the Pronoia Sessions, six inventive reworkings of major hits including the fan favorites "Ex's and Oh's" and "Becoming the Bull" plus fresh versions of Audioslave's "Like a Stone" and Tom Petty's "Mary Jane's Last Dance."