Metalcore band Atreyu has shared “Becoming the Bull” from its forthcoming collection of reimagined greatest hits and cover songs, “The Pronoia Sessions.” The digital release of the album is set for Oct. 25, 2024, while vinyl and CDs will be available Nov. 8 via Spinefarm Records. Pre-orders can be found here.
“We tried to give a new approach to this song,” frontman Brandon Saller said. “As with all the songs on this album, we wanted to breathe new life into every aspect of this song that to me sounds like a desert sunrise. Enjoy.”
The original version of “Becoming the Bull” appeared on Atreyu’s 2007 album “Lead Sails Paper Anchor.”
The genesis of “The Pronoia Sessions” stretches back to a series of acoustic performances at special events on the road.
“We had the idea to do a show similar to Nirvana’s MTV Unplugged as a one-off thing,” frontman Brandon Saller said. “Then we thought, ‘Why not spend some time on it in the studio?’ And it built from there. ‘How far can we push this?’ It spawned from there and unexpectedly turned into this monster.”
The songs reimagined on the album stretch back to 2004’s “The Curse” (“Right Side of the Bed”) and 2006’s “A Death-Grip on Yesterday” (“Ex’s & Ohs,” “The Theft”). Two of Atreyu’s biggest hits, “Warrior” and “Save Us,” are reworked from 2021’s “Baptize.” And there are new versions of “Gone” and “Drowning” from its most recent release, 2023’s “The Beautiful Dark of Life.”
In addition to its own songs, Atreyu offers dark takes on Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers’ classic “Mary Jane’s Last Dance” and the enduring, Chris Cornell-led Audioslave ballad “Like a Stone.”
“This album, to us, was something that initially came from the fans,” the band said. “During COVID, we started toying around with doing acoustic performances for the first time in our career. Since the release of ‘Gone (Reimagined),’ the outpouring of love and interest from our fans was overwhelming. It got us thinking . ..what if we didn’t just make some of our classics acoustic, what if we took them to a whole new place? We feel with this album we have carved out a new home for these songs to stand on their own. They are new entities in our musical landscape.
“Making this album brought us such a sense of joy and creativity. It was as if the universe handed us this moment and it was meant to happen … hence, ‘The Pronoia Sessions.’”
The Pronoia Sessions’ track list:
1) Becoming the Bull (Reimagined)
2) Save Us (Reimagined)
3) Ex’s & Oh’s (Reimagined)
4) Right Side of the Bed (Reimagined)
5) Like a Stone (Audioslave Cover)
6) Drowning (Reimagined)
7) The Theft (Reimagined)
8) Gone (Reimagined)
9) Warrior (Reimagined)
10) Mary Jane’s Last Dance (Tom Petty Cover)
Atreyu previously shared a video for its “Like a Stone” cover.
