Ah... ATREYU, the soundtrack to my teenage years, as I'm sure they were for a lot of other 20-something metalhaeads. Formed back in the late 90s/early 00s, ATREYU have been a solid contender in the Metalcore scene for over fifteen years. I would almost go as far as to say they helped pioneer the genre. In 2011 they decided to take a hiatus, not emerging again until late 2014. Finally, now in 2015, we're finally getting to hear new ATREYU material. Something we've not had the pleasure in doing in almost five years. I was lucky enough to catch up with Alex Varkatzas for an interview and to pick his brain slightly, which definitely helped me appreciate this album that little bit more.

The first track of this album happens to be the title track "Long Live" . Now, admittedly, I haven't listened to ATREYU since "The Curse" era, maybe even dipping my toes into "A Death-Grip On Yesterday" . I must say, if this song randomly popped up on your playlist, you would barely be able to tell that it was released 10 years on from "The Curse", it's amazing how a band can manage to not change their sound in a decade and have it still sound as fresh as a heavy-metal daisy.

"Do You Know Who You Are" opens with a very QUEEN-esque clapping intro, keeping this tempo and beat through the majority of the song. The highlight of this song comes at around the two minute mark where we're treated to an old-school style guitar solo. Other than that this song is extremely bland. It lacks any kind of power or oomph.
The most ear catching song on the album has to be "Heatbeats and Flatlines". Right off the bat, the intro reminds me a Hell of a lot of their old-school anthem "Bleeding Mascara" . It has a nostalgic feel to it, bringing to life ATREYU's classic sound. The heavy and in-your-face verses with a clean chorus.

Now, I can't go through a review of this album without bringing up the song "I Would Kill, Lie, Die (For You)". It starts off with a guitar riff that is very evocative of BULLET FOR MY VALENTINE. It starts off well and is solid all the way through; until the very last minute. What the fuck were they thinking? Seriously, this lets down the entire song. I've not heard anything as messy in a long time. They tried something new and it didn't work. Props for trying and all, but I can't wrap my head around it.

All in all, this album is good. Not great, not bad, but good. They have some good songs and some bad songs. There are some songs in there that will make you want to skip to the next... and sometimes even the next. It's extremely admirable that they decided to come back from hiatus and release another record, not many bands do that. But their years of not playing together as a band show in this album. They have some serious hits and some serious misses. But, on the other hand, their good songs are VERY good and are enough to bring up this album's rating by a few stars. If this is their first album after a hiatus, I can't wait to hear their second.