Architects' tenth record, "the classic symptoms of a broken spirit", hits the streets on October 21st 2022 via Epitaph records, and comes about a year and a half after the controversial "For Those That Wish To Exist". This marks the third release after the passing of founder and guitarist Tom Searle in 2016, and the second where the songwriting was undertaken by his brother and drummer, Dan Searle.
I belong in the part of their audience that stood by Architects and their experimentation since I first discovered them over ten years ago. I also belong in the audience that wasn't particularly impressed by FTTWTE, especially after the masterpiece that "Holy Hell" was. The change of direction felt bland compared to what we knew Architects was capable of in terms of both artistry and technicality -even though, to be fair, it was a good genericore album, just not the unique material that an entire generation would try to copy in the years to come.
tcsoabs picks up where FTTWTE left off and takes it a step further. The sound turns heavily into arena-rock laced with industrial melodies and djenty riffs. Sam Carter's signature screams have been replaced with cleaner singing (not that anybody complains, that man's got the voice of an angel) enriched with grit when deemed necessary. There's even an honorary "blergh" on "burn down my house", for old times sake I guess. While the songs are undoubtedly catchy and groovy, they don't offer much to the conversation. In the 42' that this album runs, the listener will realize that the structural patterns don't change much, rendering very few tracks truly memorable. Even the singles which, to me, are the compositions that stand out the most, are drowning in a sea of melodic hooks. That's not to say that the tracklisting is bad, no; every single song on the record is meticulously worked, but very few seem to reach an actual momentum. Most of them are fun to listen to and that's as far as they go. They're not fillers but they're not lean meat either, not exactly heavy, nor entirely pop metal, they sit somewhere in between. I feel it's the kind of album that you would have playing as ambience when you're doing something else; it's easy enough to listen to absentmindedly, occasionally catching something that intrigues you, and then continuing with your work.
There's nothing wrong with a band wanting to take things a step further, to creatively challenge themselves and to grow. The problem is that very few bands can pull a BMTH and do it successfully. For Architects, the only previous attempt at actual melody and catchiness is "The Here And Now", an album that the band has renounced and even regrets getting out, while it still holds a very dear place in the hearts of fans, myself included, to this day. And that's got to mean something. In retrospect, that album too marked the end of an era and with the releases that followed, the band grew into their own skin and into an autonomous entity; their art became so exceedingly good that they inadvertently became the undisputed leaders of the metalcore scene and the act that everyone would try to imitate -and for the most part fail miserably at. And they knew that's what they were meant to do, hence practically renouncing anything that came before "Daybreaker" in their live performances.
I understand how "Holy Hell" served both as a tribute to the late Tom and the closing of a chapter in Architects' legacy, how they didn't want to (or even couldn't) reproduce anything that sounded vaguely similar to Tom's music, how they wanted to let the past go; I do. Healing is never easy, especially when you're in the public eye and you are constantly reminded that a vital part of what constituted your identity is gone. I think my biggest issue with the current status of Architects is the inevitable comparison between the songwriting of the Searle brothers. I have no way of knowing how the balance was when Tom was still around in terms of creative control, but currently I can't help but feel that Dan is trying to impose himself as some sort of authority. And it doesn't sit well with me that since the previous album, in part they have themselves polarized fans on socials, presenting people who weren't impressed with their change as "the enemy" and indirectly sending their army to essentially bully those people into oblivion. It is impossible and straight up unrealistic to expect that everyone will accept and embrace such a nuclear shift in your sound, especially when they have found sanctuary in a specific noise. At the end of a day, an artist is as entitled to change as one is entitled to an opinion; doesn't mean one is less valid than the other.
For a band to be as prolific as Architects, means always thinking one step ahead, calculating every move, having ambition. Getting bigger with every album, playing bigger venues, appealing to a wider audience, getting airplay are noble aspirations, the kind that every band should have. When done in the form of a disruption, however, it can feel like betraying a "social contract" of sorts, whose cost entails discarding the elements that made the band unique in their genre, what made them them, and alienating some of the OG fans along the way . "the classic symptoms of a broken spirit" is definitely more palatable than "For Those That Wish To Exist". While it stands on its own merit and is pleasant outside of the Architects brand, when examined in the context of their discography, it's not their magnum opus and wouldn't really have the dynamic to be, especially when its condemned to be compared to every single release that preceded it. I can't foresee what the future holds for Architects, what their next step will be. I'm definitely hoping I'll be able to jump back onto their train eventually, though.
6.5/10
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