Suicide Notes and Butterfly Kisses

Suicide Notes and Butterfly Kisses is the debut by Atreyu, the American metalcore band formed in Orange County, California in 1998. The band's name derives from the character Atreyu in Michael Ende's novel The Neverending Story. Tying together raw screams and emotional melody, it vividly depicted the urgency of the early-2000s metalcore/screamo scene — an ambitious record on Victory Records. It also includes re-worked versions of several songs from the band's 2001 EP, Fractures in the Facade of Your Porcelain Beauty. The two-pronged vocal approach — Alex Varkatzas's sharp screams and the clean vocals sung by drummer Brandon Saller — is established from the start. The singles "Ain't Love Grand" and "Lip Gloss and Black," which got videos, are signature songs that drew attention on Headbangers Ball. The twin guitars of Dan Jacobs and Travis Miguel carve melodic riffs indebted to At the Gates. Packed rawly with a young band's impulse and skill, it is a starting point announcing the scene's arrival.