Architects - For Those Who Wish to Exist 5.9

Metalcore

Architects has been climbing the ranks of a genre that has seen better days. For Those Who Wish to Exist isn’t anything new.

Architects is a group who have historically managed to find success in a highly saturated genre. They make music adhering to a strict formula, appealing to new sounds and trends, but they always seem to do it better than other bands. “Doomsday”, from 2018’s Holy Hell, was the first Architects track that caught my attention. It’s powerful, meaningful and the songwriting is top-notch. However as I would later come to realize, the track is reflective of Architects hit-or-miss nature, a nature reflected really on all of their albums. Most of their songs are ultimately dispensable, but it seems they save room for one or two great songs an album.

This is one of the most typical records I’ve listened to in recent memory. It pushes absolutely no boundaries and stays completely in line with the formula of modern metal. Guitars are tuned to drop z and the drums are over-produced with a default snare sample. This record sounds like every djent trope combined with every metalcore trope to make one super boring album.

I generally have low expectations for lyrics in metal music. Some of my favourite old-school metal has incredibly cringe lyrics (see the almost the entire Iron Maiden discography, most death metal). All this said, this album’s lyrics were atrocious. I couldn’t get past some of the lines even in an attempt to listen to just the instrumentals. Some such lyrics include: “Where were you when the Gods clipped the wings of the Phoenix?”, “It never rains but it pours”, and “I’ve got a band-aid on a bullet wound”. The biggest song of the record in terms of plays and hype was “Animals” which relies on a “Were just a bunch of f*cking animals!” line. How many times has that phrase been uttered? The swearing doesn’t make it a new thought. Mixed with the vocal style of Sam Carter, (as talented as he is), this music just seems like such a throwback to the early 2000s and emo culture, teen angst, etc. We’ve heard all of this stuff before, though I suppose there is a new generation of young people who may eat these lyrics up.

The drumming on this record is good, from a technical perspective, but the mix and samples are uninspired and standard. Generally speaking I love listening to Dan Searle play the drums; “Doomsday” has a great drum track. When I listen to this new record, my brain is begging for a part of his kit to sound just a little atypical, maybe the bell on his ride, the low toms?

There is no doubt that Sam Carter is a talented vocalist. His voice commands a huge amount of power and his cleans are amazing. However, the screaming the verses, singing the chorus trope is 25 years old at this point. I would love to see something surprising and interesting. It feels like nearly every metalcore song has had the same chorus for two decades.

Let’s finish with some good. I enjoyed song “Black Lungs” off this record. The main riff is so good it’s possible to overlook over underwhelming aspects of the song (the incredibly cheesy breakdown). I think the chorus works too. It’s a bit cheesy but it’s still relatively meaningful and the rhythm complements the main riff very well.

Please mix it up Architects

5.9/10