It's not uncommon to see a band's sound go through metamorphosis throughout their career and change into something different from what it began as, but what happens when a band that changes their sound decides they in fact don't like the change they've made? Architects have had to go through that struggle in the recent years. Their fourth studio album, "The Here And Now," showed Architects going in a more mainstream direction with more melody than harshness in their post-hardcore portrayal, and with frontman Sam Carter's vocals being the cleanest they've ever been compared to any of their other albums. While this new direction was well-received by critics, Architects' fanbase was unwelcoming to the change, and later on, it was made known that the band wasn't happy with the change. A year later, they released their fifth studio album, "Daybreaker," which was a big step back towards their heavier sound, as well as also trying to incorporate the melodic elements they tried out in "The Here and Now." With their sixth album, "Lost Forever // Lost Together," they got well-renowned producer Fredrik Nordstrom - known for his production work with In Flames, Bring Me The Horizon, and At The Gates - to help produce the record, so that fact alone tells that they wanted this album to be a heavy-hitter.
With "Lost Forever // Lost Together," Architects still seem to be fine-calibrating their preferred balance between heavy metalcore elements and euphoric synthesizer elements. Along with heavy chugging metalcore lines, there are great, complex guitar lines in "The Devil Is Near," "C.A.N.C.E.R.," "Colony Collapse," "Castles in the Air" and "Youth Is Wasted on the Young." "C.A.N.C.E.R." and "Colony Collapse" also have bass-lines that synchronize with the complex guitar lines, making those bass-lines much more interesting compared to the ones on the rest of the album. The drums have alright variation: utilizing post-hardcore style, metalcore style and crash-heavy breakdown style in just about every song, as well as great drum-fills in songs like "Dead Man Talking," "Colony Collapse," "Castles in the Air" and "Youth Is Wasted on the Young," and also utilizing blastbeat in "Naysayer." As for the synthesizer presence: instead of the dominant, lead-worthy synthesizer sounds that were present in "Daybreaker," the synth contributions in this album are mellow, atmospheric synth pads - which you can find in the majority of songs on the album. Though the pads do a good job adding a depth that juxtaposes the heaviness of the metalcore, the pad-break-to-metalcore-breakdown formula gets stale when listening to the album from front to back. "Red Hypergiant" strikes a nice balance of melody and heavy sound, but alas, it's only an interlude track on the album.
**Lyrics: Nothing very new is being tried out in the lyrical aspect of "Lost Forever // Lost Together," with songs like "Gravedigger," "Dead Man Talking" and "Colony Collapse" being critical of world leaders and establishment, songs like "The Devil Is Near" and "Broken Cross" being critical of religion, and songs like "Youth Is Wasted on the Young," "Castles in the Air," "The Distant Blue" and "Naysayer" being about misspent youth. For the most part, the lyrics in "Lost Forever // Lost Together" are feasible but not remarkable, though you can come across some noteworthy rhymes, like "this is where tragedy is bought and sold/it seems their pain seems to be worth its weight in gold" in "The Devil Is Near," "all the saints and the sinners will reap what they sow/so they stood back and watched their bitterness grow" in "The Distant Blue," and "you said you'd change the world, but death still flies east/the blind lead the blind, so we bomb for peace" in "Gravedigger."**
Overall Impression: This album is yet another temporary stop in Architects' musical soul-searching of this decade. Though a new variation in the band's sound was attempted in "Lost Forever // Lost Together," the fact that it was the only variation in sound attempted this time around makes the album a bit tiresome as a whole. It has its moments, and whether you're a long-time fan or a new listener of Architects, this album won't give you a negative impression, but the underlying theme of this album feels more like a phase of the band rather than a timeless composition. It'll fit in alright with the rest of Architects' discography, but alone, "Lost Forever // Lost Together" is just decent.
Despite a mid-career misstep, 2011's somewhat anaemic "The Here and Now", that threatened to derail their career, Brighton's premier metalcore crew are currently enjoying a huge surge in popularity that ensures that Lost Forever//Lost Together will deservedly be their most successful album to date. Exhibiting large amounts of the passion that has always enabled them to stand apart from an over-populated scene, Architects have toughened up in every department here and made a frequently brutal and complex album that belies metalcore's on-going stagnation. Songs like blistering opener Gravedigger and the joyously vicious CANCER boast plenty of the melodic hardcore sensibilities that may well be essential to their creators' upward commercial ascent, but there is no evidence of compromise within their thudding, muscular grooves and polyrhythmic punch. Architects' intelligence and knack for astute but subtle political statements is on display throughout, vocalist Sam Carter's ferocious roar adding thrilling intensity to the religion-thumping Broken Cross and the startling rage-rush of Naysayer. Above all, these are gloriously crafted anthems of defiance, imbued with dizzying emotional oomph and a near-chewable air of steely-eyed conviction.
With "Lost Forever // Lost Together," Architects still seem to be fine-calibrating their preferred balance between heavy metalcore elements and euphoric synthesizer elements. Along with heavy chugging metalcore lines, there are great, complex guitar lines in "The Devil Is Near," "C.A.N.C.E.R.," "Colony Collapse," "Castles in the Air" and "Youth Is Wasted on the Young." "C.A.N.C.E.R." and "Colony Collapse" also have bass-lines that synchronize with the complex guitar lines, making those bass-lines much more interesting compared to the ones on the rest of the album. The drums have alright variation: utilizing post-hardcore style, metalcore style and crash-heavy breakdown style in just about every song, as well as great drum-fills in songs like "Dead Man Talking," "Colony Collapse," "Castles in the Air" and "Youth Is Wasted on the Young," and also utilizing blastbeat in "Naysayer." As for the synthesizer presence: instead of the dominant, lead-worthy synthesizer sounds that were present in "Daybreaker," the synth contributions in this album are mellow, atmospheric synth pads - which you can find in the majority of songs on the album. Though the pads do a good job adding a depth that juxtaposes the heaviness of the metalcore, the pad-break-to-metalcore-breakdown formula gets stale when listening to the album from front to back. "Red Hypergiant" strikes a nice balance of melody and heavy sound, but alas, it's only an interlude track on the album.
**Lyrics: Nothing very new is being tried out in the lyrical aspect of "Lost Forever // Lost Together," with songs like "Gravedigger," "Dead Man Talking" and "Colony Collapse" being critical of world leaders and establishment, songs like "The Devil Is Near" and "Broken Cross" being critical of religion, and songs like "Youth Is Wasted on the Young," "Castles in the Air," "The Distant Blue" and "Naysayer" being about misspent youth. For the most part, the lyrics in "Lost Forever // Lost Together" are feasible but not remarkable, though you can come across some noteworthy rhymes, like "this is where tragedy is bought and sold/it seems their pain seems to be worth its weight in gold" in "The Devil Is Near," "all the saints and the sinners will reap what they sow/so they stood back and watched their bitterness grow" in "The Distant Blue," and "you said you'd change the world, but death still flies east/the blind lead the blind, so we bomb for peace" in "Gravedigger."**
Overall Impression: This album is yet another temporary stop in Architects' musical soul-searching of this decade. Though a new variation in the band's sound was attempted in "Lost Forever // Lost Together," the fact that it was the only variation in sound attempted this time around makes the album a bit tiresome as a whole. It has its moments, and whether you're a long-time fan or a new listener of Architects, this album won't give you a negative impression, but the underlying theme of this album feels more like a phase of the band rather than a timeless composition. It'll fit in alright with the rest of Architects' discography, but alone, "Lost Forever // Lost Together" is just decent.
Despite a mid-career misstep, 2011's somewhat anaemic "The Here and Now", that threatened to derail their career, Brighton's premier metalcore crew are currently enjoying a huge surge in popularity that ensures that Lost Forever//Lost Together will deservedly be their most successful album to date. Exhibiting large amounts of the passion that has always enabled them to stand apart from an over-populated scene, Architects have toughened up in every department here and made a frequently brutal and complex album that belies metalcore's on-going stagnation. Songs like blistering opener Gravedigger and the joyously vicious CANCER boast plenty of the melodic hardcore sensibilities that may well be essential to their creators' upward commercial ascent, but there is no evidence of compromise within their thudding, muscular grooves and polyrhythmic punch. Architects' intelligence and knack for astute but subtle political statements is on display throughout, vocalist Sam Carter's ferocious roar adding thrilling intensity to the religion-thumping Broken Cross and the startling rage-rush of Naysayer. Above all, these are gloriously crafted anthems of defiance, imbued with dizzying emotional oomph and a near-chewable air of steely-eyed conviction.