Source: Album Artwork
After their 2014 smash album Lost Forever // Lost Together, Brighton metalcore unit Architects secured their place among the pioneers of British alternative music. Two years and a whole lot of touring later and the much awaited follow up All Our Gods Have Abandoned Us is finally upon us, but the main question is can the new record hold up against the back catalogue? Or had Architects possibly peaked the last time around?
Lost Forever // Lost Together will definitely go down as one of, if not the best Architects record we’ve ever had. The sheer power and brutality was, for our money, unmatched by anything they’d ever produced before, until now. All Our Gods Have Abandoned Us revives a lot of the same formulas from its 2014 sibling, projecting strong politically influenced messages into our skulls in true Architects fashion with thunderous riffs and throat stripping vocals. However, there is just a little more to it than that this time around.
Take ‘Nihilist’ for example. The opening track has a melodic chorus that just screams sing along bait. For anyone attending this year’s Download Festival, learn the words because it’s bound to be a definite crowd pleaser. ‘Memento Mori’ has a bridge that combines both classical and alternative musical styles creating a beautifully layered work of art. The main changes in this record are subtle ones, like the chugging bass line in ‘Love Is Lost’, they’re inclusions which you won’t notice if you just have the album playing in the background. However if you actually sit and appreciate the album in its entirety, you’ll find there are so many sweeteners hidden for our pleasure.
Power and heaviness are two traits of alternative music that are often confused. All Our Gods Have Abandoned Us combines both perfectly; ‘Gravity’ is a fitting example. It’s fast and heavy in true mosh pit fashion, although Sam Carter’s vocal performance is just on another level. Something that is again shown in the epic ‘Downfall’, the harmonies, breakdowns, riffs everything, it just works. Returning back to our original question then, how does the album hold up to its older sister? It’s unfair to claim one better than the other. All Our Gods Have Abandoned Us is a perfect continuation of the beauty that came before. Architects have grown into an unstoppable force, with a loyal fan base, and enough musical ammunition to take on any festival headline slot for years to come. What we have here is a definite contender for album of the year. Although there is still so much more music to come, rest assured we’ll be listening to this record for a seriously long time.
