Architects - The Sky, The Earth & All Between (February 28, 2025) Album • Page 3

this chorus is gonna be stuck in my head

 

Oh damn is this the first time they went hardcore punk since the Daybreaker days? This is great and sounds fresh for them. I haven't been fully sold with the heavy parts on the other singles, coming across as corny or like they're taking the piss, but this one is it.

 

Jordan Fish is a fucking wizard.

I know sometimes he can get formulaic as he works with other bands, but when it hits, it HITS. And the hits far outnumber the misses.

 

this

 

they're openly taking the piss. basically making it comically heavy for effect. so no, i wouldn't describe it as genuine

 

Great, another band I used to love once upon a time with cool lead guitars, out with a new album with the same song 12 times in a row. Chug chug, electronic verse, melodic chorus, repeat.

And I'm sure people will love it.

Won't deny some of these choruses are indeed catchy, but everything just sounds the same when listening through.

 

The singles and the song with house of protection are the only decent/good songs on this. The rest of it is pretty bad

 

I’ll probably listen to this once and never again but the song with house absolutely rules

 

Just clicked play, Elegy sounds like it's going to turn into this at first

or this

 

Sams lows are so bad, comically so.

 

Overall it's better than the last one, but it doesn't touch For Those That Wish To Exist and the earlier stuff. I can see myself return to it but a lot of this isn't really a sound I seek out much anymore, a couple exceptions aside. It's a bit ironic considering who's at the helm but I feel like I got much more out of Poppy's similar new album. Both play with the same modern metalcore tropes, yet she brought many more interesting ideas to the table whereas I can't help but think Architects' vision sounds stale.

I think I still have a different idea of where I wanted them to go after that FTTWTE, meaning lean more on the atmosphere, the industrial touches and even on their rockier and softer side silmutaneously. Obviously that's not what happened and I have to accept they already moved on from that era. That said, I was relieved to hear how much Chandelier builds on Flight Without Feathers. I was waiting for them to do that and it's definitely a direction they should pursue, more up my alley than the Octane core fest of most of the album.

Elegy, Brain Dead and Chandelier are easily the standouts, with Judgment Day not far behind. Still love Curse as well, blending their djent and radio rock sides quite well. I like how Sam sings more like he did on FTTWTE during Devil Eyes' second pre-chorus, even though it's surrounded by standard numetalcore.

The rest is just fine. I don't mind the poppier offerings like Broken Mirror and Everything Ends but they do go in one ear out the other as they're just so cookie cutter. Idk, those just feel so below their capabilities and are giving fillers like most of The Classic Symptoms.

On a tangent, I'm starting to be annoyed by Jordan Fish's signature vocal processing, the way he make singers sound robotic at times. It's bothering me on a couple choruses here, making my cynical self think "there's no way Sam pulls this off live".

I'll always mourn their riffier, more boundary pushing old days but I have to come to terms with the fact that version of the band is long gone. They seem way more interested in grooves and huge singalong hooks now.

 

i bet zakk cervini sleeps like a baby knowing that jordan is taking all the heat for things he's responsible for

 

What do you mean?

 

many of zakk's mixes sound like this, with and without jordan fish.

 

I'm not familiar with him so I'll have to dive into his work

 

I loved FTTWTE, and then didn't like the one they released after, so as a comparison I'm loving this one. But then again I really don't mind some mindless fun straightforward metalcore

 

It's better than their last one. I personally never had a problem with the style changes, a lot of bands do pretty drastic style changes.

I don't mind the pop sound on some of the songs, but I don't know if it's just me...I feel no confidence behind that sound. It doesn't feel like there's intention behind it, it just feels there a lot of the time.

I do think if this album had come out after holy hell or for those...the transition to the lighter sound would have been more okay for a lot of people.

 

I like it and I like that they are not trying to do the same thing. I feel like this album will be something people will eventually come to love.

 

Just finished my first play. I really enjoyed it and think it was an improvement from the last record.

Sam honestly sounds fucking brilliant at times on his high cleans. I know people are shitting on “Everything Ends,” because that sounds like something a lot of people could sing. But the idea that he will go from that to Black Lungs or Whiplash and (mostly) pull it off is insane and we should appreciate it. I also like the low growl.

This is gonna sound nuts, but for all the cheese and pop they leaned into, I could have used a few more guitar solos like Black Hole had. That elevates it to an art as opposed to imitation.

All the features work well for me. HOP is the best.

VERY interested to see what the set list looks like this summer. Brain Dead could kill, figuratively and literally.

 

no interest in the techs anymore but i gotta take a minute to shoutout how sick that northlane album was a few years back

 

Well I did end up listening to this after all

It's not terrible, I think they achieve their goal of making a very safe, modern metalcore/alternative metal album. Which mostly means that it's not something I would be itching to go back to often. Funny enough I think Blackhole ends up being one of the best songs on it because of how overly ridiculous and absurd it is, but that can't really hold an entire album for what they're going for so it's not surprising it's really the only song on here quite like it. Even Seeing Red, which is sort of what Blackhole was kinda going for in a way, is just not as good and feels like it's trying a bit too hard.

Weirdly Broken Mirror is a highlight for me, much more lowkey but I dunno, it kinda works and feels almost like the most genuine song for the sound they're ultimately going for nowadays? It's genuinely catchy, I don't even think it necessarily needs the heavier breakdown bridge section but it still works. Judgement Day with centering around the "Rain, rain go away come again another day" is laughably bad, or at least that part of it is.

Brain Dead is another highlight but at the same time I wouldn't say I love it, it's good/fine. I don't really care for Chandelier especially for the closing of an album, sort of goes out on a bit of a whimper.

I don't think the production is bad but I dunno, in terms of recent Jordan Fish I'd much rather go for Poppy's Negative Spaces than this album. Ultimately this is not an album that excites me, even with them going "heavier" on it in some aspects. Maybe if they brought in more of their earlier album influences rather than a general modern "heavy" they could have something even better. Alas, they have an audience and good for them for it, sort of similar to the spot Parkway Drive are in now. But also fuck that Adam shit.

Ramblings of someone drinking wine on a Friday night, but wanted to do something

 

On another note I do think it's interesting that there's effectively at least three eras of Architects sounds now. The Nightmares/Ruin/Hollow Crown era, the Lost Forever/All Our Gods/Holy Hell era, and now For Those That Wish/Classic Symptoms/The Sky era. I'm pretty firmly in the Hollow Crown as their peak but have very fond memories of Lost Forever. Daybreaker I guess would go a bit more in that second era sound, and The Here and Now is such a fascinating inbetween. Curious how people who got into them with this latest era would take that album.

 

It's hard to not be biased due to that first trilogy and The Here And Now being released during my formative years but I much prefer how Sam sang on the latter than what he's doing these days, at least in the studio because he does sing with less grit live.

 

here and now is miles better than given credit and looks better with each passing album. last one i dug was lf/lt

 

I actually think this album is sick as hell. Didn't think they had it in them. And the songs are plenty different too.

There's one certified stinker on here (Everything Ends), but it's a nice break from all the heaviness around it.

And yeah Elegy is a crazy way to start the album. Loving the urgency from the first second.