With a two decades career California’s gold-selling band Atreyu is back for more and aims to reach higher levels with the new effort “In Our Wake”.

The title track is constructed as an obvious hit song where the band carefully weaves crunchy guitar riffing following an engaging bouncy rhythmic section and the expected accessible melodies that reach the peak in the quasi happy chorus and smooth guitar solo.

The best part of “The Time Is Now” arrives when guitars acquire a darker gritty sound that naturally leads to powerful grooves accompanied by highly somber atmospheres while the chorus aims for a radio friendly delivery.

“Nothing Will Ever Change” features massive guitar driven grooves with an evident modern metal approach and a wildly distorted sound accompanied by a heavy rhythmic core with cool bass lines and a polished melodic guitar solo.

“Terrified” becomes emotionally charged focusing mainly on easy ballad style guitar melodies and crispy clean vocals even if the instrumentation will eventually pick up speed while the various atmospheric layers maintain a more modern style.

Initially “Into The Open” focuses on subtle atmospheres and choirs but swiftly proceeds to follow Atreyu’s winning formula of angry & heavier rhythmic segments and warm melodic chorus.

“Super Hero” is another sad track where the classic ballad spirit feels very much alive through soothing arpeggios and peaceful guitar melodies that this time are further embellished by additional sentimental atmospheric orchestrations.

“In Our Wake” might not sound extremely innovative all the time with the massive amount of super accessible and often repetitive radio friendly tunes but it cannot be denied that Atreyu has definitely mastered a signature modern style that can appeal to a wider audience.