Words By: Bre Offenberger

Metalcore band Atreyu have released a music video for “Underrated,” a track that will appear on the band’s forthcoming album, Baptize, due out June 4 via Spinefarm Records. If anyone had any doubts about Brandon Saller moving from drums to clean vocals and Porter KcKnight moving to unclean vocals, they just proved all of them wrong.

The track opens with a few seconds of a toned-down guitar that detonates and expands, bringing with it a steady beat of drums from Kyle Rosa amidst the chaotic yet mesmerizing pattern of guitars and Saller imploring listeners to stand up and listen. The verse finds the production falling back, leaving only synths to trickle around Saller’s calm vocals before he bows out to make room forMcKnight’s heavy screams about feeling like a forgotten grave. The same transition happens again, this time McKnight revealing that his life has gone up in flames with no buckets of water in sight. Saller completely takes over again in the chorus with some of his most crisp vocals to date to remind himself that even during hard times, he’s going to overcome everything in his way, and that’s all that matters. The verses are much more introspective, and the bridge is a shell shock of emotions, but the song ends rightfully with the refrain, exuding confidence.

In the video, the boys are actually found delivering a live performance, a treat for most people who haven’t been to a concert in over a year now. Beams of white light are flashing in a sea of purples and blacks before the first lyrics shine in red on the screen, and the stage becomes flooded with every color in existence. Saller and McKnight show their friendly chemistry, feeding off each other’s energy during their respective sections and completely letting loose. Guitarist Dan Jacobs can be seen joining in on backing vocals, seeming almost reserved in his vocal contributions, but he goes berserk when given the opportunity on the guitar. They all bunch together for the bridge but split off for the remainder of the video, each shining separately in their own ways.

Of the song and video, the band shares: “We’ve never been handed a golden ticket and never been given a free ride to the top of the mountain. We’ve worked our asses off for over 20 years to get to where we are, and this is only just the beginning. Our video for ‘Underrated’ is an example of how hard we worked to bring a live show to your living room. This video contains footage from our global livestream event combined with video content created by our very own Porter McKnight.”

“Underrated” is one of the first singles following the departure of former frontman Alex Varkatzas as well as the aforementioned lineup changes. Despite these and the heavy criticism that came from fans because of the changes, Atreyu still knows how to make an absolute anthem. Atreyu gets ready for the release of Baptize — because it’s bound to be full of pleasant surprises.

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