Architects have been a modern staple in high-scale British metal for over a decade now, long regarded as being one of the bands at the forefront of the heavy music coming from our isles. Previous albums, especially ‘Hollow Crown’, are even regarded by many as one of the most influential records in the genre. However, recent years have seen criticism from fans and critics alike as a result of meddling with their sound (see ‘For Those Who Wish To Exist’ and ‘The Classic Symptoms of a Broken Spirit’), so with the release of their eleventh album ‘The Sky, The Earth & All Between’, the band are clearly keen to impress.
It shouldn’t be unsurprising then that the rousing opening track ‘Elegy’ doesn’t hold back any of its brutality. Following its moody and rather dramatic initial moments, the song bursts into life, with those previously dissatisfied with the band’s shift away from their roots perhaps even silenced by its ferocity. But while it wouldn’t be unreasonable to assume that the band would seek to silence the haters, it’s clear that this criticism has clearly done a number on vocalist Sam Carter and co, it’s hard to interpret the chorus’ “Cause I gave you all a part of me / I found you at the murder scene” as anything but a retort to those fans who have been so previously vocal against the band’s shift in direction.
This counter-offensive even continues onto ‘Whiplash’, although initially aiming to tear down the nature of tribalism within modern society, with Carter’s distinctive screams ripping through the track’s razor-sharp instrumentals. But when you consider the nature of some of the very public disagreements the band has had with fans online, it’s hard to ignore any sort of undertones that lines like “You’re doomed, too / Quit talking like you’re bulletproof” may have.
From here there are some genuinely solid moments, the dancing breakbeat drums and the high-soaring guitar solo in ‘Blackhole’ is hair-raising, with some incredible low vocals to round off the track too, and the racy punk-tinged ‘Brain Dead‘, featuring the ever-chaotic House of Protection brings a great shift of pace to the track list. In fact, it’s safe to say that these two tracks probably make up a majority of the highlights of the album.
Despite these glimpses of greatness, the album also features plenty of let downs, ‘Everything Ends’ serves as little more than a Linkin Park tribute track, complete with its very own keyboard melody throughout. While tracks such as ‘Evil Eyes’, and ‘Landmines’ unfortunately conform so dearly to formulas the band has used previously that they fall short of the mark. ‘Judgement Day’, which features the rising alt-metal artist Amira Elfeky certainly makes for an intriguing listen, but it’s still so far from unpredictable, with the album being produced by Jordan Fish (formerly of Bring Me The Horizon), it was almost inevitable that his favourable Mick Gordan-esque sound was to be deployed at some point.
As the album nears its close, things don’t improve either. ‘Seeing Red’ is perhaps the angriest track in the list, and while I previously pinned both ‘Elegy’ and ‘Whiplash’ as being retorts to the criticism that gets slung at the band, this track instead serves as a fully fledged diss track. Sonically the song is well crafted, with its fury so deeply coded into the track that it feels almost impossible not to share some sort of rage. However, lyrically it is so deeply corny, and as Carter screams “Rent free, living in your head”, it’s rather ironic. To make matters worse, the closer ‘Chandelier’ does incredibly little to stand out from the rest either.
Ultimately, this album doesn’t quite feel like the return to form that many believed it would be. For some, the heaviness will be enough, but under the surface it feels so polished and smooth to the point that it lacks some of the edge that helped Architects stake their claim as stalwarts of the genre all those years ago. Only time will tell how this album is regarded, but for me, it certainly doesn’t reach the zenith of their previous work.
