Over the weekend, it was reported that Atreyu parted ways with founding vocalist Alex Varkatzas. At the time, no official statement was made, until this morning, August 24th, from Varkatzas himself, who made it clear that he's not going anywhere just yet.
Lambgoat reported "sources close to the band" said Alex was gone without giving a reason. Turns out, he might just be taking a big of a hiatus.
Shortly after the news broke, Varkatzas revealed that his wife had given birth to a new baby daughter.
In the post, he wrote “Life has ruthlessly been taking from me lately. 2019thru2020 has done its best to destroy me. Testing me to my mental limits. The horrible, fake people and things that have exited my life this year have been replaced by something so pure and sweet. It feels like a new start.”
This led to fans speculating that perhaps he was leaving. Varkatzas then posted a new update on Instagram, sharing a screenshots of lyrics to the Stone Temple Pilots song "Trippin' On A Hole In A Paper Heart" and offered the caption “I’m not dead and I’m not for sale.” He also included the hashtags #fakenews and #fakenarrative.
Then, he offered another quick video where he says "So the baby's here. I'm pumped up. I got so much creative energy, I just need an outlet. I'm thinking of starting a super heavy band, some sick Swedish riffs, some super heavy breakdowns and some screaming from yours truly. What do you think about that? Comment below." The caption for the video read “I’m thinking of starting a super heavy band… I need to shred bro. I’m thinking Blood Has Been Shed, meets a little In Flames, with a bit of the old Lamb of freaking God thrown in on top.”
What's confusing to me is if what was said this weekend was in fact #fakenews, why is Alex considering starting a new band? Certainly, there are artists with multiple projects, but the timing all seems a little weird.
Atreyu have not yet officially commented.
