Genre : Alternative metal, Metalcore
Released : February 26th, 2021
Label : Epitaph Records
FFO : Bring Me The Horizon, Parkway Drive, While She Sleeps
I rarely talk about albums I didn't think too highly of here since I don't consider myself to be a music critic, my goal is rather to share music I enjoyed and allow people to discover new stuff and give artists some extra coverage.
Obviously Architects isn't a band that needs the extra coverage of a random Instagram blog but I still wanted to talk about this release since they are a band I respect and enjoy and as an invested consumer of their music I have opinions about it I want to share.
Honestly this album isn't as bad as I imagined it to be but it's definitely not the best material this band has put out (although ironically, it reached the #1 spot in UK charts today, and fair play to them tbh).
My main issue with this record is not the change of direction which was almost getting overdue at this point and was being expected for a good while.
It's how overproduced, repetitive and predictable it is.
I get what the band was going for and I think it's a step in the right direction that makes sense for them as a creative unit at this point in time.
But the execution is lacking what makes Architects engaging in the first place in my opinion.
The raw, gritty emotional intensity of the music is just drowned by an overproduced mix, predictable alternative arena metal songwriting and orchestral layers that are enjoyable and add depth to certain songs but otherwise get old pretty quick and just come across as extremely cliché. And again, it's not because it's no longer djenty post-hardcore, it's the execution that really is the problem here for me.
Oh and those, "murmured" clean sung parts? I could not stand them by the time the album was nearing it's end.
Seriously, Sam sounds as bored as I felt by the time the hour this record exists in had gone by.
And by the way, the one hour length of this record does not play in it's favour, especially when there's so little variation between the songs.
I honestly had the impression I was listening to the same song looping itself for an hour straight at times.
Although thankfully, some tracks are more standout than the rest such as "Dead Butterflies", "Discourse is Dead" and "Animals", which might be the track that stands out the most and displays the most experimentation with this new direction the band is trying to go for.
And I say trying because I feel like this album is a transitional "in-between" state for Architects.
This is where I make the seemingly unavoidable BMTH comparison by saying that, I didn't care too much for "That's the Spirit" when it came out. But l thoroughly enjoyed "amo" since it felt like the band had a better idea of where they wanted to go with their new direction after having departed from metalcore and fully embraced the experimentation on that record with confidence.
So I feel like "For Those That Wish To Exist" is Architects' "That's the Spirit" for me at least, meaning : This is the record that is going to allow them to fully transition into something else on their future material after having identified what worked and what didn't with this album.
"Holy Hell" was about learning to live in the aftermath of grief and "For Those That Wish To Exist" is applying what had been said on "Holy Hell" and moving forward in spite of everything.
Although I think the execution is dreadfully lacking for a band like Architects, I can only commend them for being willing to move forward and I sincerely hope that they will acknowledge and learn from the shortcomings of this release and will be able to embrace their new direction in a more balanced approach with a more convincing and confident execution.
Here's hoping.
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