Atreyun Alex Varkatzas ”Monen metalcore-yhtyeen melodiset lauluosuudet ovat nykyään todella marisevia ja ärsyttäviä”
Yhdysvaltalaisen metalcore-yhtye Atreyun vokalisti Alex Varkatzas antoi hiljattaine Banger TV:lle haastattelun, jossa hän kertoo metalcore-yhtyeiden lauluosuuksien kehittyneen mielestään huonoon suuntaan viimeisen muutaman vuoden aikana. Hän kertoi seuraavaa laulutyylinsä muuttumisesta vuosien varrella:
”Since our break [between 2011 and 2014], the way that metalcore, or, like, what us and KILLSWITCH [ENGAGE] and some of these bands were doing, the way it’s evolved, it’s got really whiny. Like, the melodic vocals are super fucking whiny and annoying in a lot of bands, and I don’t like that shit — I think that’s a shitty direction. I like a KILLSWITCH ENGAGE vocal, like Jesse [Leach’s] or Howard’s [Jones], you know what I mean? You can sing and have clean vocals and make it really fucking powerful.”
”The first couple of [ATREYU] records, that was a hundred percent aggression — [2002’s] ’Suicide Notes And Butterfly Kisses’ and then [2004’s] ’The Curse’ was very aggressive. On [2006’s] ’A Death-Grip On Yesterday’, I started to do a little bit of melody, but not really singing. And then, like, when you go to a major label, dude, straight up, you try to get your record done, and they’re, like, ’We need to do this. We need to do that. You’ve gotta change this. You’ve gotta do that.’ And you have to try to get your record done no matter what. Now we’re at a point where I just get to be me and do what I want, and what I wanna do is be aggressive and emotional, but I don’t wanna be emotional in a weak way; I wanna be emotional in an aggressive, passionate way. And for me, that’s screaming and yelling and emoting myself not in a singing, melodic way. I don’t wanna do that shit anymore.”
Kysyttäessä mikä sai hänet suosimaan melodista puhdasta laulua yhtyeen solmittua levytyssopimuksen Hollywood Recordsin kanssa 2007, Varkatzas vastasi:
”I don’t like to do what I’m being told to do. So the truth is, I wanted to try it on [2007’s] ’Lead Sails Paper Anchor’, I tried it on ’Lead Sails’, and it was moderately successful; ’Falling Down’ was No. 3 on Alternative Rock radio and some bullshit in the States, which, I guess, if you’re into that shit and you’re a label guy, that’s really cool. We did it, and then I wanted to kind of get away from it. And then once you do it, once you dip into that well, it’s hard to break free; it’s hard to go to your major label and say, ’Okay, this next record’s gonna be super fucking metal’ — no one wants to hear that.”
”I think I lost my way a little bit. I think our band had got kind of bigger and I was reacting kind of weird to it, and I wasn’t comfortable with our music as much. And now I’m super stoked. Our music, I love it; it’s the best it’s ever been. I would fight for it. I tell people it’s good. I go, ’Man, have you heard our new record? It’s really good.’ In the past, I would never ever ever ever say that.”
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