I first got this album nearly a year ago and at first was so disappointed that I could not put pen to paper without crapping all over the album, it was so
different from Atreyu I had hear before, and in some respects was almost a retro rock band with its radio friendly tunes. But after getting over my hump

I have been playing 'Lead Sails, Paper Anchor' on and off for a year in little spurts and I have finally sat down and listened to the whole album in one
full listen for the first time in a year, and now I can see what the band were doing when they wrote this album which was to escape the rigidity of
the hardcore sound, because lets me frank, how can your heart be truly into hardcore when you have a good life, lots of money and live in California
as true hardcore is about experiencing the shit side of life and as I say.

So Atreyu in my opinion have actually been honest in moving on and this album is a transitional one, still with the ability to write and record hardcore/noisecore rock and the observational lyrics that go with this, but without the rage/hate that can be so self destroying. So onto the album. the album opens with 'Doomsday' and is the track that first outraged me, and yes I though it was Doomsday when I first heard it, now in the right context I can appreciate that it is a decent tune but perhaps they were struggling a little with the transition as it still retains noisecore sentiments but is actually a good rock song, following up is 'Honor' and is much more potent with its mix of rock melodies, 80's guitar licks and retro riffs while the twin vocal styles fit like a glove.

The third track 'Falling Down' comes up with a rock/pop beat of the seventies and mixes it with group chanting and even some keys and more eighties style guitar, so the first three tunes are a complete about face from earlier material, the forth track 'Becoming The Bull' works rather well and like the second track mixes some great growls to a meaty bass/skin R&B and by dropping the eighties guitar lacks and bringing in some 90's style riffery we get a more complete sound that is good.

So, so far the good and bad of Atreyu's transition has passed and we begin to move onto more solid ground with 'Lose It' with its more rounded
blend of what has just gone on before, and is another decent song perhaps even the best so far, so that makes three out of the first five... a good return I think. This is how it continues, good song writing skills learning how to write material that is not what went before and credit to Alex and the band, I think that they have actually done rather well and if they can improve on this by taking the best and follow that line they might and could reach out to the bigger audience that they probably deserve.

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