The End Is Not The End - Atreyu
A disclaimer before we begin:
When I last reviewed Atreyu (The Beautiful Dark of Life), I was completely unaware of the drama and online discourse surrounding vocalist Alex Varkatzas's departure. Since then, I’ve read countless ex-fans decry anything new from the band, tearing them apart and focusing solely on who isn’t around anymore, rather than allowing the music to speak for itself. Hell, sometimes people claim they listened to the new stuff and state how “bad” they think it is, often launching personal attacks on Brandon Saller (usually severely nasty comments that have nothing to do with music or character) and still bitching about the lack of Alex. I wanted to call attention to the fact that I think these types of comments are not constructive, are intended to be hurtful, and offer nothing valuable to the conversation. If you don’t like the direction the band is going, or that your favorite member is gone, maybe it’s time to pack it up and go find another band to listen to, rather than dogpile on the dogshit comment section. Basically, touch grass. It’s reasonable to say, “I’m not a fan of what X band is doing, but maybe it’s just not for me”, and then move on, but that hasn’t been the case at all. Regardless, I wanted to make it clear that beyond this call-out of this behavior, I will not be addressing or taking into consideration the public discourse surrounding the band, and rather, I will be speaking to the music and whether it’s good or not.
Okay, time for the actual review now:
The End Is Not The End (released April 24th, 2026) is a step up for the band in many ways, but it also has a few weaknesses. The album lacks the multitude of memorable moments and catchiness that The Beautiful Dark of Life had, but that’s not to say that this album lacks any catchy choruses. Despite some flaws, this album offers more glimpses of the older Metalcore sound the band used to have, and continues to build upon the sound that was brewing on their previous record. Hell, there are some parts of this record that I would argue are a little heavier than their older records! I also appreciated that the production was clear but not too clean (if you’ve been reading my reviews so far, you know by now how I’m a stickler for production value). The album also features a little more guitar flair (a call-back to some of their early work), with quick flashes of fun licks and more solos than I would have expected. It’s not just the guitar writing/playing that is a little shinier here, but the drums and vocals also are elevated more than The Beautiful Dark of Life. The band clearly took the right lessons from that record and applied them here.
The standout tracks for me were ones that leaned much heavier and brought the band back to their Metalcore roots even more. “Dead” sounds like a Hardcore track during its heavier parts, but offers soaring melodies and a guitar solo before ending on a solidly heavy outro. “Ego Death” is the heaviest song I’ve heard from Atreyu in a long time, but it still manages to have a catchy clean vocal section to break things up before you get cut up with a cheese grater. The track is short and to the point, but leaves nothing on the table. “Children of Light” is a mostly drum-driven track and musically reminds me of something System of a Down would have written (even more ironically, it reminds me of Linkin Park’s “Rebellion” featuring Daron Malakian of System of a Down). Max Cavalera’s guest vocals add a little extra grit to the track, and the song ends with a balls-to-the-wall outro that comes out of nowhere. “Break the Glass” is the final track of the album, and is an adventurous, meandering Metal track that gets sludgy and slow halfway through, and it feels like one of the most ambitious tracks the band has attempted. The song has an almost Doom Metal sound in the second half, reminding me of some Black Sabbath tracks when they were tapping into that sound. I also wanted to call out the track “Break Me” mostly because of the riff sounding like something from the Cyberpunk 2077 soundtrack (the entire song doesn’t necessarily have that feel), which I thought was a cool moment.
Despite my criticisms that the album lacks moments as memorable as the previous record, it’s undeniable that this record feels as close to a return to form as we’re going to get in 2026. Atreyu continues to pay homage to their Metalcore roots while evolving their sound, something that greater bands before them haven’t always successfully done. I said in my previous review that if the band kept on this course, we’d be in for a treat, and I feel like my sweet tooth is satisfied with The End is Not The End.