Album Review: Architects – Daybreaker

In a recent interview, many members of Architects spoke of their dismay and horror at how their previous album The Here And Now came out. In fact the band’s guitarist Tom Searle did one piece of press about the album and then refused to do any more as he disliked it that much. The video for one of the singles got a lot of flak from Architects fans who complained that it looked like a Westlife video and the album lost the band many long-time followers and picked them up many new fans that saw the melodic version and not the ferocious version they had once been. For a band who were so close to becoming metalcore heroes this misfire set their careers back three years. Now the band are back and attempting to reinvent themselves with their latest release Daybreaker. By bringing the tech solos back and then throwing in some electronic orchestral synths plus a helpful dash of deep lyrics, the band may have pulled it off.

The album opens with synth led The Bitter End. As a long time Architects fan I rolled my eyes and gritted my teeth throughout this track. The pace is slower than a tortoise with the glittering synth being the only thing to focus on. Lead singer Sam Carter performs his clean vocals for the duration of the track which will delight and frustrate fans in equal measure. Second track Alpha Omega has a serial killer sounding orchestra playing at first and again I’m rolling my eyes before a heavy breakdown crashes through the orchestra. It’s immediately clear at this point that Architects are making some sort of comeback. The riffs are euphoria inducingly technical with Carter sounding demented on vocals. This is a return to form.

Even If You Win, You’re Still a Rat is anger tied up with a bow and stuck in an MP3. The instruments and vocals are poisonous with venomous fury. The track features a weak guest vocal spot from Bring Me the Horizon lead singer Oli Sykes. His vocals have changed since BMTH’s last album and have become higher and seem screamed in the literal sense rather than the singing sense. As a fan of BMTH it pains me to say he sucks on this album. Devil’s Island was released in October in the aftermath of the London riots in August 2011. The band were looking on their youthful fan base in a new light and wrote a single about the rebelling public and the damage they had done to their home.

Unbeliever is a remarkably deep song and the only one on the album that pulls off being topical without sounding weak. The track is about the band’s opinion on the human race; how we’ve been misguided by religion and lost the meaning of life and our origins in amongst the religious stories. It’s hard to tell if there’s disdain in the lyrics or if it’s just an attempt to advise their fans on a better view of the world, either way it’s hauntingly beautiful listening experience.

I give this album 8 out of 10. It’s a brilliant return to form for a band that had lost their way. I knock a mark off as there are a few tracks which lag a little. Also whilst the anger, subject-based lyrics and technical riffs make a well-received return, some of the tracks feel angry for the sake of being angry, technical for the sake of being technical and the subject-based lyrics feel a little ill-advised and badly thought out. The band said that they weren’t experts about the subjects they sing about and sometimes it’s all too clear. Apart from that the band are back on top form.

Read my review of Architects single These Colours Don’t Run

For fans of: Bring Me the Horizon, The Devil Sold His Soul

Download: Alpha Omega, Unbeliever