Architects - the classic symptoms of a broken spirit (October 21st, 2022) Album • Page 5

After my first listen this is my feeling too.

There are a tonne of metalcore bands doing things much more interesting than basically anything on this record.

 

Yeah these guys are just boring now. And it’s made worse by their weird attitude towards any criticism.

 

nothing could've prepared me for how little i enjoyed that

 

Different strokes for different folks? I loved it from first listen.

I should say I also love the same pivot BMTH has made, so I’m not a longtime fan and if I was hoping for another of the Trinity sounding records, I would find this…simple. But they’re super catchy, still very hard in spots and it’s going to sound phenomenal live.

 

Be Very Afraid is…fucking perfect?

 

sounds old and pandering and the background vocals are cheesy.

also the guitar tone on the high notes sucks

 

BMTH...did not make the same pivot

 

Yeah also at the very least BMTH seems to have the finger on the pulse and the songwriting chops to actually pull off their melodic sound.

 

After revisiting FTTWTE, I really miss the ominous string section that was all over it. It really made a lot of that album's parts shine. This one is nowhere as dynamic in comparison. I also still hope they'll revisit the vibes explored on Fight Without Feathers, Dying Is Absolutely Safe and Demi God on a future album. I feel like they just wrote bangers for this one, which I don't mind in theory, but the lack of variety hurts it. The aforementioned songs make me think there's some untapped potential.

 

I will say I like this a lot more than I expected. Will it get a ton of spins from me? Nope. But it's enjoyable enough

 

Personally I enjoy this for what it is. I definitely prefer the last album overall, but I think they achieved what they set out to do, which was make accessible hard rock bangers. I usually hate the term “guilty pleasure” for music but that’s kinda how I feel about this album so far lol

 

This is so bad TBH. Tried to give it multiple spins today but Jesus

 

I really like it ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

 

Love that for you! Wish I liked this more :/

 

Just to piggyback on my earlier post, if anyone likes this album, here's my similar recommendations regarding these bands.

After a couple more listens, "burn down my house" and "doomscrolling" have grown on me. I thought the former was plodding on my first listen but I love the layers of production on that thing, like the glockenspiel that pops up after the first chorus. The latter's hook is stuck in my head and is probably the best in the album. I can't help but think it could've been huge for them in another era, with the way it sounds like a WWE entrance anthem. Feels weird to say that about an Architects song, but I really hear that vibe here. It's not too late to release it as a single!

 

Radio 1's Rock Show with Daniel P Carter - Architects' frontman Sam Carter joins Dan for Start to Finish - BBC Sounds

Whether you like the record or not, this interview is worth your time.

I am loving it more with every listen. Totally understand older fans not liking it, but these are absolutely grooving riffs. “Living Is Killing Us” is a goddamn dance party.

 

Hate to say it but I found this very forgettable and boring on my first listen, with the exception of when we were Young and be very afraid. I'll see how it stands over time. It's definitely building on that hard octane rock sound which isn't necessarily a bad thing.

 

the release show looked like a blast.

notably it seems like sam is making a deliberate effort to avoid the style of vocal he's known for. even on songs like 'modern misery' and 'gone with the wind' it's a half shout, half sing type thing. i get that it's an album release show, and admittedly the new songs seem to translate really well live, but damn i'd be gutted if i turned up for an architects headliner and didn't get to hear 'nihilist'.

(none of this is a criticism, and i'm not suggesting he can't scream anymore, but sam is absolutely a top 5 vocalist for me so to see him do such a u-turn is certainly interesting)

 

side note: watching live videos of them makes you realise how buried their lead parts typically are on basically every album. josh's licks stand out so much across this set. interesting choice on their end.

 

holy fuck that performance is incredible?!

 

I think it’s safe to say that Sam really came into his own vocally with the recent material because even on gone with the wind he sounds rather dodgy.

 

i don't love the album as a whole but the performance cements that deep fake, at least, is a fucking banger and an instant classic for them

 

This performance made me do a complete 180 on the new tracks lol

and yes, deep fake in particular!

 

As someone who isn't a long-term Architects fan but did really enjoy the pre-release singles, I think I may appreciate them more as a singles band than an album band.

Deep Fake and A New Moral Low Ground are both fantastic (really appreciate the evolution of Sam's vocals), but over the course of the album I felt the sound dragged a little.

 

I might be in the minority, but I’m really enjoying this. I also enjoyed “For those that wish to exist” and the previous 5 or so albums. I think this is definitely a bigger departure than their last album, but I honestly believe that some of the criticisms are a bit unfair.

One of the major complaints I’ve heard from others is how similar each song sounds to each other and while there is some merit to that, I think that’s a problem that’s been in present in most of their albums (Daybreaker - holy hell). They’ve always been a band that uses similar style riffs, tempos and drum patterns within their albums.

I feel as though people are more upset about the stylistic shift and somehow forgetting that the same problem mentioned above existed in the majority of their discography.

if we’re talking about production issues/ mixing, Holy Hell doesn’t sound that great tbh. If we’re talking lyrics, of course the quality of lyrics would drop since the main lyricist has changed.

Songwriting wise, there was for sure a bit more variety and variation of structure, but not by that much to me.

Im not saying these things to shit on their previous albums, because I love the majority of them. It just sounds to me like overnight everyone decided their Daybreaker to Holy Hell run was perfection and that’s why the newer albums are shit. This is for sure just my opinion and view of their discography and how I view their newer albums vs the older ones. I completely understand if fans don’t like the new style their playing, but again I don’t think it merits the hate it’s getting.

tldr / main point: the problems that are present on this album (minus the stylistic shift and weaker lyrics) have always been present in some form on their previous albums.