Author: Sandi Sadar Šoba
Artist: Architects
Label: Century Media
Release: 2011
Length: 39:13
Rating: 4/5
Gotta admit, the British Empire is something special just because of its island location, and when you stick a whole bunch of (above-)standard acts on the map of all kinds of musical oddballs (well, of course every field of wheat has a bit of rot in it …), part of that quality elite is the English band Architects. The fourth effort from the lads from Brighton proves that the band, which has worn quite a few names in its seven years of existence – first they were Inharmonic, then Counting The Days, and for the last few years they’ve been winning over the souls and ears of young listeners at home and abroad as Architects – has moved into a phase of creative stability and solidity, and at this zenith of their creative urge they’re giving birth to modern-day studio craftsmanship masterpieces.
There’s been a lot of scheming and changing, but now the secret recipe for reaching for the stars has been cracked and woven into the fabric of their musical core. Don’t get me wrong: there’s no shortage of experience and ingredients that make the breakthrough into the upper tier, among the cream of the metalcore, post-hardcore and melodic screamo elite, totally natural and expected, the Everest of musical recognition conquered and plenty of a seasoned ear thoroughly convinced and softened up. The Here And Now punches through the crust of crunchy mainstream after Bring Me The Horizon, the more tuneful My Chemical Romance and Bullet For My Valentine had well and truly beaten the path for it, and if we throw Young Godse into the mix too, it becomes clear that some major mental and tonal tectonic shifts have been going on in the island scene for a few years now. Tastes are changing and so are the clichés, and a slice of the finest cream is being skimmed by the very people who are “to blame” for the melodic – brutal emotional blend of solid granite riffs and fairly predictable approaches. Predictability isn’t always bad, because this time (believe it or not), instead of the usual speeding up of your pulse with rhythms where a hand is always on the handbrake and the pauses constantly murder your sense of natural movement, a massive amount of melody, rage and thick layers of music floods into your cerebral waters. And the ones behind it are youngsters who have barely stepped over the threshold of officially recognized adulthood! So what’s the convincing part? Maybe the fact that The Here And Now is a multilayered album that shows off a bunch of previously unseen, or at least less pronounced, faces of the band. Instead of guttural puking and monotonous lung-emptying, vocalist Sam Carter offers plenty of quality singing and clean vocals, which earn the record’s dynamics one more plus on the wish list. The guitars of Tom Searle and Tim Hillier-Brook serve up fat, heavily seasoned riffs, metalcore aesthetics and sexy HC overkill, which make the wild ride from the opening track Day In Day Out or the less reserved Delete, Rewind feel like a trip on a well-oiled death train. And let’s not forget the outstanding rhythm section: the explosive bond of drummer Dan Searle organically locks in here one last time with the low frequencies of Alex Dean’s bass (the latter, as of this February, has been added to the rather short list of former members). That there’s plenty of soft tissue and sweet choruses hiding in the soul is confirmed by the electronics-soaked An Open Letter To Myself, while personally I got my dose of delight in the punky stampede of The Blues, which – as if they were trying to prove that this time the offering is truly baroque in its richness – gets needlessly softened and watered down by the dreamy, wimpy Red Eyes. Besides the native rage and melody, this record gives you two whole duets. The first can be heard on Stay Young Forever, where Carter leans on the help of a singer at least a decade older, Comeback Kid’s Andrew Neufeld. A little tune full of testosterone and fiery tongues, which leaves me with the feeling that the guys occasionally try a bit too hard to convince you they’re really angry – but in a non-macho, somewhat effeminate way. Metalcore was never a cover for ballad-singing, yet after penning letters to themselves, Architects surprise you with vocal range and the sensually sugary Heartburn. It’s almost as if the ghost of the once-dominant alt heroes Radiohead had snuck in between the notes, except that instead of Yorke’s sensibility, the foreground leans on the granite contours of unsentimental, unmelancholic aggression. The final blow is served up by the architects of carefree, fat pop-core together with the former lead throat of The Dillinger Escape Plan, singer Greg Puciato. With Year In Year Out the cycle closes, and after the last squeal of guitar radiophony, following a short pause, something rings out of the speakers that could easily be compared to Up And Away, which vaguely recalls a cross between Pink Floyd narration and Britpop on steroids.
Benign, harmless and successful, we’ve nibbled our way to a fairly leisurely finale of this listening session. Architects have beaten the demons of failure that wore them down after their second record Ruin, bridged the crisis of metamorphosis with Hollow Crown, and The Here And Now proves that the changing is almost done. A butterfly has hatched from the metalcore pupa of the past, one that will be able to survive the present times too. Part of the survival tincture is the softening of sharp edges. The once-rugged poetics are gaining new dimensions and opening the way into totally unforeseen directions. There’s no lack of ambition, and as a perfectly right and nearly flawless way of reaching for the stars, the approach heard this time proves itself too. Let’s hope they keep the geysers of creativity clean, the heart-blood hot and unclouded, and the creative mind razor-sharp going forward. The seed of this debauchery has fallen on fertile ground, so this year undoubtedly promises to be a rich one, full of exceptional music!
Line-up
Sam Carter – vocals
Tom Searle – guitar
Tim Hillier-Brook – guitar
Alex Dean – bass
Dan Searle – drums
Guest musicians:
•Andrew Neufeld – backing vocals on track 8*
•Greg Puciato – backing vocals on track 10*
Production
Steve Evetts
Track list
1. Day In, Day Out
2. Learn To Live
3. Delete, Rewind
4. BTN
5. An Open Letter To Myself
6. The Blues
7. Red Eyes
8. Stay Young Forever (feat. Andrew Neufeld (Comeback Kid)
9. Heartburn
10. Year In Year Out / Up And Away (feat. Greg Puciato of The Dillinger Escape Plan)
