Album Review: Atreyu - In Our Wake

“Who will we leave in our wake?” is the question that haunts Californian heavy metal outfit Atreyu’s seventh musical instalment, In Our Wake. Written during the aftermath of Chris Cornell and Chester Bennington’s passing, the album travels through the waters of mortality, looking at the choices we make along the way. 

Full of whirring guitars, thumping drums and gritty breakdowns, track after track is explosive and invigorating and it feels like life is pumping through the album's veins. Everything erupts for Blind Deaf & Dumb, a vicious, aggressive vent towards an ignorant society: “How can you fix the world if you can’t fix yourself?” It’s a brutal heavy rock track where vocalist Alex Varkatzas shows off his outstandingly textured tone delivering a sharp kick to the chest with force and conviction. Settling into an emotive declaration of fear and love, marking the halfway point of this 12-track release, Terrified brings a much-deserved pause from the noise, a nice reminder to unwind every once in a while.

The pause is temporary and Atreyu dive straight back into it. Anger Left Behind smashes down the walls, breaks down the door and gives a cathartic release of pent-up rage, as Super Hero ties the thematics of life, mortality, and the light that guides us through it all nicely up in a bow.