The latest LP from the UK's Architects, All Our Gods Have Abandoned Us, hits new lows of brutality for the band.
For the uninitiated, that's a good thing in this particular genre. The record is so goddamn heavy and fast it sounds like what one could only assume smoking crack cocaine with Northlane sounds like.
Listening through the album, you can tell that it will be a fun album to tour on, for both the band and fans, as every band member audibly pushes himself to be his best. Dan Searle's drums hit hard with blast beats leave you wondering if this isn't actually a rated-PG13 Nails record in disguise. Tom Searle and Adam Christianson's guitars and Alex Edwin Dean's bass parts are diverse and interesting, playing on familiar djent-y, metalcore notions while putting new twists on ideas and weaving around each other like synchronized swimmers. The lyrics throughout are heartfelt and smart, with clean vocals few and far between but well placed and well executed by Sam Carter.
The overall feel of the tracks varies only slightly throughout, but the band hold sovereignty over your ears with their speed and composition, making sure that you'll be head-bobbing and shoulder rowing until you slip a disk.
"Phantom Fear" is the standout track, featuring one of the most instrumentally interesting breakdowns I've heard in recent years, featuring Carter's callout of, "This is a failed state," then, "No love, no empathy!" The last song is superfluous — the band's message has been drilled far enough into our skulls by that point — and "Momento Mori" is just a bit too far away from the scene they worked so hard to build. Though, given its length, it might make a solid EP on its own.
If All Our Gods Have Abandoned Us was an Olympic gymnastic performance, it would have nailed the double backflip but stumbled just a bit on the landing, leaving onlookers blown away by the trick and barely remembering that last wobble.
(Epitaph)For the uninitiated, that's a good thing in this particular genre. The record is so goddamn heavy and fast it sounds like what one could only assume smoking crack cocaine with Northlane sounds like.
Listening through the album, you can tell that it will be a fun album to tour on, for both the band and fans, as every band member audibly pushes himself to be his best. Dan Searle's drums hit hard with blast beats leave you wondering if this isn't actually a rated-PG13 Nails record in disguise. Tom Searle and Adam Christianson's guitars and Alex Edwin Dean's bass parts are diverse and interesting, playing on familiar djent-y, metalcore notions while putting new twists on ideas and weaving around each other like synchronized swimmers. The lyrics throughout are heartfelt and smart, with clean vocals few and far between but well placed and well executed by Sam Carter.
The overall feel of the tracks varies only slightly throughout, but the band hold sovereignty over your ears with their speed and composition, making sure that you'll be head-bobbing and shoulder rowing until you slip a disk.
"Phantom Fear" is the standout track, featuring one of the most instrumentally interesting breakdowns I've heard in recent years, featuring Carter's callout of, "This is a failed state," then, "No love, no empathy!" The last song is superfluous — the band's message has been drilled far enough into our skulls by that point — and "Momento Mori" is just a bit too far away from the scene they worked so hard to build. Though, given its length, it might make a solid EP on its own.
If All Our Gods Have Abandoned Us was an Olympic gymnastic performance, it would have nailed the double backflip but stumbled just a bit on the landing, leaving onlookers blown away by the trick and barely remembering that last wobble.