DEAD ICARUS, the new band of former ATREYU lead vocalist Alex Varkatzas, as well as Gabe Mangold of ENTERPRISE EARTH and Brandon Zackey, is back with a new single, “The Unconquerable”.
“It’s been over a year since we released our debut single ‘Sellout’,” says Varkatzas. “As we prepare for our upcoming tour with NEKROGOBLIKON, we wanted to celebrate by dropping a brand new banger ‘The Unconquerable’. This song showcases our affection for CRADLE OF FILTH-style, atmospheric black metal merged with the elements of metalcore and hardcore that we love. Lyrically, the song is about a feeling that is un-nameable and stronger than all else, something that propels you forward almost unconsciously with unrelenting drive and purpose. We hope you enjoy the track and ominous visualizer crafted by Riivata Visuals.”
DEAD ICARUS leans on the uncanny creative union between vocalist Varkatzas, guitarist and producer Gabe Mangold, and drummer Brandon Zackey. The band truly gets its wings from the undying commitment made by its members. The musicians pursue their artistry with a resolute sense of focus, manifesting in the precise execution of airtight technical riffs, virtuosic solos, blast beat assault and battery, and hard-hitting vocals.
Countless fans worldwide initially got to know Varkatzas as co-founder and original frontman for influential Southern California metalcore stalwarts ATREYU. After two decades earmarked by chart-shaking success, a pair of gold albums and gold singles, sold-out shows around the globe, and critical renown, he embarked on his next chapter in 2020. Enter Mangold. Celebrated as guitarist for ENTERPRISE EARTH, he and Alex instantly clicked and forged a musical partnership, yielding their 2024-released “Ad Infernum” EP. Inciting critical applause, Revolver promised, “Fans of old-school ATREYU will definitely enjoy.”
Stay tuned for more information about DEAD ICARUS‘s upcoming debut album for MNRK Heavy, the details of which will be announced soon.
DEAD ICARUS will embark on its first tour this September with ENTERPRISE EARTH and NEKROGOBLIKON. More worldwide touring is planned for 2025 and beyond.
DEAD ICARUS on tour with ENTERPRISE EARTH and NEKROGOBLIKON:
Sep. 11 – Midvale, UT – The Pearl On Main ^
Sep. 12 – Boise, ID – Shrine Social Club ^
Sep. 13 – Seattle, WA – El Corazon *
Sep. 14 – Vancouver, BC – Fortune Sound Club *
Sep. 15 – Kelowna, BC – Revelry Hub*
Sep. 16 – Calgary, AB – Dickens *
Sep. 18 – Winnipeg, MB – The Park Theatre *
Sep. 19 – Saint Paul, MN – Amsterdam Bar and Hall*
Sep. 20 – Lincoln, NE – Bourbon Theatre *
Sep. 21 – Sioux Falls, SD – Bigs Bar *
Sep. 23 – Fort Wayne, IN – Piere’s ^
Sep. 24 – Lexington, KY – Manchester Music Hall *
Sep. 26 – Flint, MI – Machine Shop *
Sep. 27 – Rochester, NY – Montage Music Hall *
Sep. 28 – Hartford, CT – The Webster *
Sep. 29 – Hampton, NH – Wally’s Pub *
Oct. 01 – Hampton, NH – Wally’s Pub
Oct. 02 – Nashville, TN – Cannery Hall ^
^ with ENTERPRISE EARTH
* with NEKROGOBLIKON
A staple of Ozzfest in the mid-2000s with two gold albums, ATREYU is one of the defining bands of the New Wave Of American Heavy Metal, alongside groups like AVENGED SEVENFOLD and LAMB OF GOD. Metalcore classics like “The Curse” and “A Death-Grip On Yesterday” were powered by Alex‘s distinctive scream.
In October 2020, ATREYU surprise-released a new song called “Save Us”. It was the first taste of the band’s music since the departure of Varkatzas a month earlier. A couple of days before “Save Us”‘s release, Varkatzas updated his Instagram stories with hashtags that seemed to throw shade at his former bandmates and their new material: #fakeheavy, #conartists and #justwaitandsee.
ATREYU‘s former drummer Brandon Saller, who is now focusing completely on singing after previously sharing lead vocals with Varkatzas for most of the band’s two-decade-plus existence, discussed Alex‘s departure from ATREYU in an interview with Terry “Beez” Bezer of Knotfest.com‘s “Mosh Talks With Beez”. Asked what he thought of Varkatzas implying in a social media post that “Save Us” was “fake heavy,” Saller said: “I thought it was hilarious, because I think everyone heard it and then was, like, ‘Hmm. Okay.’
“The four of us were very, very adamant on this whole thing” — referring to the split with Alex — “being very, very positive. There’s no shitting on people that we wanna do. There’s not a part of us that wanted anyone to shit-talk us or him. And our whole stance was, like, this is what it is, but we can still lift each other up and make our fans feel good about the fact that there’s no beef; there’s no whatever.
“He did his own thing, and it wasn’t exactly the kind of idea of a narrative that we would have liked to put forward,” Brandon continued. “We’ve always, still to this day, been fully positive. When people say stuff about Alex, I’m still, like, ‘The dude’s awesome. You should support whatever he does next.’ He’s learning guitar, he’s taking interest in different things, and I will still, till I’m blue in the face, say, yeah, support him. If you like his voice, if you like what he did in ATREYU, he’s probably gonna make more music. Now you have two bands you can listen to.
“The ‘fake heavy’ thing was — we don’t know where that came from,” Saller added. “Alex wrote ‘Save Us’ with us. He wrote probably seven, eight songs that are on the next record. He was a part of the beginning of the album, so for him to say it’s fake heavy, then he wrote a fake-heavy song.
“I think ‘Save Us’ is one of the heavier songs we’ve ever written. It is two and a half minutes of facepunch. Another view we’ve had is no matter who says what, let’s do what we’ve always done and just let the music talk. We’re just gonna continue doing that and let the tunes do all the talking. And people will know what we’re all about. They’ll know everything they need to know from [listening to] the songs.”
According to Brandon, he and his ATREYU bandmates wanted to avoid making the split with Alex more dramatic than it needed to be in the eyes of the public, preferring instead to give everyone a taste of the new music they were working on.
“A lot of people got really butthurt because of the lack of detail that we gave [in our statement announcing Alex‘s departure],” Saller said. “And I feel like we just felt so strongly that in this day and age, click culture and clickbait, every headline’s looking for, ‘Guitar player of ATREYU slept with the singer’s wife’ — some weird drama. But we had no interest in that. We just wanted to keep it about the music and keep it positive and let our fans know that this is what’s happening, we’re separating, it is what it is, and let’s just think about the future.”
“I think people think a lot of it is a lot more quick than the reality,” Brandon theorized. “I think that people think that we just made this decision and posted it on the Internet, and that was it. But we’ve been going through this for months and months and months. When you’re in a business and a relationship — a marriage, essentially — with someone for 20 years, there’s a lot of steps to go through before you can say anything. We were very much wanting to say really nothing — just be positive and let’s be adults. And luckily, we have so many people that really, really are showing us a lot of love.”
In December 2020, Brandon implied in an interview with “Sappenin’ Podcast With Sean Smith” that ATREYU was no longer on speaking terms with Varkatzas: “We’ll call it a breakup,” he said. “There’s obviously a separation, so I think that’s something that, in our hopes, the future will heal. But the five of us in the current situation are tighter than ever.”