More about: Architects

They’re a band that has battled with unbearable darkness and despair, embodied in albums such as 2018’s stunningly heartbreaking Holy Hell. But something that is central to the beating heart of Architects is their undeniable ability to lay bare the band's most vulnerable emotions through their big chugging breakdowns and experimental blend of melodic metalcore. Now, having recently released their ninth studio album For Those That Wish To Exist, a record built on the foundations of veganism, environmental activism and humanity’s ability to stare directly in the face of the desolation and destruction of planet earth, brought to life by elegant orchestral elements and hard-hitting heavy music.  

British metalcore kings Architects have amassed a mammoth nine albums to their name since starting out in the scene in 2004. From debut album drop Nightmares to recent record release For Those That Wish To Exist, this five-piece have sonically gone from heavy hardcore instrumentals to melodic metalcore and an ambient amalgamation of experimental sounds, brought to life by their lyricism built on environmentalism, life and loss. Now, we aim to push past the surface of the band’s big singles, from ‘Doomsday’ to ‘Hereafter’ in favour of some album rarities and record deep cuts across Architects’ nine releases.

‘In The Desert’

Bursting onto the scene back in 2006 with debut album Nightmares, the original line-up of Architects looked a lot different during the bands early years and so did Architects’ sound. Stamping out their own blend between intricate melodic metalcore and hard-hitting heavy sounds, Nightmares as an eight-track album introduced the scene to a band who were bound to be frontrunners in the future. ‘To The Death’ and ‘You Don’t Get To Walk Away From Dismemberment’ were the big hitters of album number one, but underrated song ‘In The Desert’ has the unrivalled audaciousness to compete with the two above. Album number one was only the start for Architects. 

‘Running From The Sun’

Nightmares featured the original lineup of Architects, with Matt Johnson on vocals and Tim Lucas on bass. Just a year later, Architects had brand new vocalist Sam Carter and bassist Ali Dean, who have remained members of Architects ever since. The second studio album was seen as a slight but not majorly significant departure from the first, with Ruin incorporating more clean vocals to a larger extent than Nightmares. However, deep cut ‘Running From The Sun’ remains on the hard-hitting heavy end of the Architects spectrum, with the hardcore punk-rock style shouts of Sam Carter giving a new vocal dynamic to Architects’ music. 

‘Every Last Breath’

With newfound frontman Sam Carter having settled into the switched-up lineup of Architects, Hollow Crown naturally continued down the same post-hardcore and metalcore path as its two previous releases, yet set itself apart as a standalone record stylistically, incorporating never before heard elements including cleans, melodies and structural shifts throughout the third albums twelve tracks. Take the track ‘Every Last Breath’ for example, whilst instrumentally the song showcases battering drums by Architects founding member Dan Searle throughout, the song’s chorus takes a more melodic approach, with catchy clean vocal hooks allowing this track to take Architects’ staple aggressive style and merges it with a more melodic approach that has stayed in the band’s soundscape ever since. 

‘Dead March’

Just a few tracks later, ‘Dead March’ comes in with a barrage of guitar riffs, following on from fellow track ‘Every Last Breath’. With this album and this track marking a change in the way Architects and guitarists of the time - the late great lead guitarist Tom Searle and also rhythm guitarist Tim Hiller-Brook - tune their guitars, with ‘Dead March’ tuning to drop A, this song uses more simplified riffs as showcased throughout the track's intro and throughout. An album that marked a lot of change for the band from record labels to guitar tunings and many album meanings to each band member, Hollow Crown represented a record that made a lot of people awake to the anger-filled sound and style of Architects.   

‘Cracks In The Earth’ 

Somewhat of a resurgent record, Daybreaker doesn't skimp on its melodic moments that strike a seamless blend between aggressive and atmospheric styles. Singles such as ‘Devil’s Island’, ‘These Colours Don’t Run’, ‘Alpha Omega’ and ‘Black Blood’ are pre-record release examples of such a stylistic merger and so is the title track to this album. Whilst other songs such as ‘Truth Be Told’ and ‘Unbeliever’ feature heavily on the atmospheric and melodic front, alongside a feature on ‘Even If You Win, You’re Still A Rat’ from Bring Me The Horizon’s Oli Sykes, underrated song pick ‘Cracks In The Earth’ is the cleanest, but one of the most technically proficient cut from this record. Complete with guitar and electronic elements alongside a melodic chorus and soaring vocals, much like piano tinged track ‘Truth, Be Told’, ‘Cracks In The Earth’ provides a breakaway amidst the chaotic nature of the rest of the record from Architects. 

‘The Distant Blue’

In March 2014, Architects dropped their sixth studio album Lost Forever // Lost Together. This record came at a time of change and transition for the band, with Architects having recently signed to brand new record label Epitaph as well as the entirety of the band now finding veganism, a lifestyle factor that now makes up a massive part of their identity seven years on. Lost Forever // Lost Together almost felt contradictory to the album’s title, since Architects truly found themselves as a band at the time, including the sheer intense sound Architects established unapologetically with this album. Across the album’s relentless eleven tracks, including singles ‘Naysayer’, ‘Broken Cross’ and ‘Colony Collapse’ alongside another guest spot going to The Xcerts Murray Macleod on ‘Youth Is Wasted On The Young’, closer ‘The Distant Blue’ stands out as one of the best. The dynamic shifts on the song between ambient sounds and heavy shouts go from the gentle to the absolute extreme in the space of a five-minute track. It is lyrically inspired by peering into the distant future of a destroyed planet, a common environmentalist theme in lyrics like “Their bodies made a mountain, a ladder to the stars/When they reached up to the sun, it only left them with scars/All the saints and the sinners will reap what they sow/So they stood back and watched their bitterness grow.” 

‘From The Wilderness’ 

Album All Our Gods Have Abandoned Us follows and it’s a relentless exploration of emotions on the bands deepest, darkest and heaviest record released this far along Architects’ discography. The first full length to feature now permanent guitarist Adam Christianson shortly after a touring stint as part of Architects, yet was sadly the last masterpiece of the late guitarist, songwriter, brother, bandmate and beloved human being Tom Searle. All Our Gods Have Abandoned Us sets out a statement of intent that makes us stand up and take direct action on worldly issues. Track number ten ‘From The Wilderness’ delves lyrically deep like many tracks that make up Architects’ extensive back catalogue, the negative behaviours inflicted by humans on planet earth, as vocalist Sam Carter opens “There is no endgame/So whisper the truth and pass on the blame/Just put us out of our misery/This defeat is a victory.” 

‘Memento Mori’ 

All Our Gods Have Abandoned Us album climax ‘Memento Mori’ marks the closing of one of the deepest, darkest and heaviest chapters in Architects’ career and lyrically, closer ‘Memento Mori’ represents exactly that. Directly translating to the meaning of “Be mindful of death”, ‘Memento’ is a stark reminder of the immortality of humankind, one which wrestles with death in the content of the anger and fear we all live within. An eight-minute epic, ‘Memento Mori’ is one of Architects’ most stunning standalone songs to date. 

‘A Wasted Hymn’ 

What followed on from All Our Gods Have Abandoned Us for Architects and the entire scene was a traumatic time rooted in loss, longing and sadness; yet the album that came out of this period produced one of the band's most moving masterpieces of a record. Holy Hell is Architects’ eighth studio album and a return for the band after the heartbreaking passing of founding member Tom Searle, a true talent that will leave his mark on Architects’ artistry and Holy Hell is just an embodiment of this. Whether it be through stunningly hard-hitting singles ‘Doomsday’, ‘Hereafter’, ‘Royal Beggars’ or ‘Modern Misery’ right through to album deep cuts ‘Moral After All’, ‘Damnation’, or our choice underappreciated track ‘A Wasted Hymn’, all produced by drummer Dan Searle and the first to feature new member and guitarist Josh Middleton. From the entirety of the Holy Hell record down to one singular song ‘A Wasted Hymn, this is a beautiful body of work intricately laced with Tom Searle’s legacy now. 

‘Discourse Is Dead’

Now on album number nine, For Those That Wish To Exist, Architects have switched up the status quo in more ways than one. The fifteen-track full-length defies the short, sharp releases of singles and EPs in a fast-paced industry, in favour of a lengthy LP that serves up a heavy dose of lyrical reality, analysing our collective actions that are directly affecting planet earth’s destruction and, moreover, our ability to rally round as a society to strive for a better, brighter future. Deep cut ‘Discourse Is Dead’ demonstrates Architects‘ ability to lure us all in with some ambient electronics before hitting us with the heavy stuff – a sonic approach found throughout For Those That Wish To Exist. Starting off with a short ambient electronic intro, the song delves into pit-worthy post-hardcore instrumentals, as crashing cymbals and intense riffs amp up the energy. The vocals on the song hear Carter return to the guttural screams and yells, synonymous to that of the band’s earlier material. Backed by battering breakdowns, glitchy electronics, heavenly choir-like vocals and soaring string sections, ‘Discourse Is Dead’ is a dense metalcore-meets-electronicore-meets-orchestral number.

‘An Ordinary Extinction’ 

Similar to single ‘Black Lungs’, ‘An Ordinary Extinction’ explores the state of this dire world and the way in which it’s running rapidly towards eternal extinction, if the title is anything to go by. The song comes with a wave of electronic whirs, pulsating beats and a heavy surge of instrumentals, that put Josh Middleton’s crunching guitar riffs front and centre, ultimately bridging the gap between heavy music and experimental electronics. Carter shows off his vocal adaptability, seamlessly transitioning between sinister cleans in the verses and menacing screams in the climaxing choruses, stating: “We’re stood at the edge of the world”, “We’re fighting to stay alive” and “How can we all survive?/No second chances” Displayed side-by-side with drummer, and primary songwriter, Dan Searle’s inspiring lyrical style, the delivery of this song makes Carter one of the best, most versatile vocalists the scene has to offer, on one of the standout deep cuts on For Those That Wish To Exist and in Architects’ nine-album deep discography. 

More about: Architects