Label: Epitaph
Released: 26th February 2021
It’s hard to not feel a bit angry these days, what with ‘everything’ going on. Luckily, Brighton five-piece Architects are ready with some energised catharsis to help us all out. Now on their ninth outing, the metallers are fully loaded with a determined snarl aimed squarely at the state of the world, and ‘For Those That Wish To Exist’ is the conduit for such mammoth messages.
Putting their intentions out there for all to see, the singles have been pointing the dirty, crooked finger back at humanity, from the gut-punching ‘Animals’, to the saint plaguing ‘Black Lung’. This carries on throughout, each moment building to deliver the next, turning sharp corners. Architects have honed in on the brutality while delved into pop sensibilities that erupt with the same daggers and rapturous ferocity of old.
Along for the ride comes Aussie metal stalwart Winston McCall (Parkway Drive), and Royal Blood’s Mike Kerr bringing his incandescent vocals to ‘Little Wonder’. Even Biffy’s Simon Neil stops by on ‘Goliath’, where, far from the crooning that gave Biff a mainstream lift, outcomes the screeching, careening Scotsman at his most maniacal – a refreshing sound, a bit like a societal sorbet.
This is Architects stepping up to the plate. They’ve been tinkering and toiling for years, and, where British metal is eking out its spot in the musical landscape in the wake of the likes of Bring Me The Horizon, Architects are up there with them, front and centre. Cohesive, coherent and demanding of us an explanation, ‘For Those…’ shall not relent until wrongs have been righted, and being this righteous never sounded so good.
