Atreyu

As neo-screamers Atreyu were finishing up their second album, The Curse (due in June), vocalist Alex Varkatzas was promising evolution. “We’re trying to make a different record,” he tells the Pitch. “[We] don’t [want to] do the same shit recycled.” The most pleasant revelations from the SoCal quintet’s upcoming disc are awe-inspiring slabs of metalcore — apeshit vocal jawing (“Right Side of the Bed”), jackhammer riffs (“You Eclipsed By Me”) and ribbons of melodic delicacy (“The Crimson”). Long Island homeboys From Autumn to Ashes also rely heavily on the contrast between melody and noise for its punishing tunes. On 2003’s The Fiction We Live, vocalist Benjamin Perri’s growl alone suggested that the group could easily demolish pop-punk lightweights with just a few of its patented hardcore firebombs.