Architects

Architects, the Brighton, England-based metalcore ensemble, fuse a punishing blend of breakdown-centric hardcore, symphonic screamo, death metal, and ambient post-metal. That sonic aggression rests on a foundation of veganism and environmental activism, shaped by artists spanning Hatebreed and Shadows Fall to Bring Me the Horizon. First appearing in 2006 as a straightforward, aggressive metalcore outfit, the group broadened their palette on the 2011 release The Here and Now, embracing a melodic yet still ferocious and less formulaic approach that reached full maturity on the widely praised 2016 album All Our Gods Have Abandoned Us. Entering the following decade they further developed this broader palette, issuing meticulously constructed works such as The Classic Symptoms of a Broken Spirit (2022) and The Sky, The Earth & All Between, built around dynamic, wide-ranging, arena-scale metalcore.

The band tracked their first album, Nightmares, in 2006 with twin brothers Tom Searle on guitar and Dan Searle on drums, alongside Tim Hillier-Brook on guitar, Tim Lucas on bass, and Matt Johnson handling vocals; Johnson was succeeded onstage by vocalist Sam Carter in January 2007 at the final date of the ensuing tour. Later that year they cut their second album, Ruin, which introduced bassist Ali Dean, then secured a worldwide contract with Century Media that led to its 2008 reissue. Their initial U.S. tour followed, sharing stages with Suicide Silence, Beneath the Massacre, the Tony Danza Tapdance Extravaganza, and additional acts. Back in England, Architects tracked their third album, Hollow Crown, issued in 2009. They steered toward a more restrained post-hardcore direction on the fourth album, 2011’s The Here and Now, before returning to greater heaviness the next year with Daybreaker. The band pushed further extremes and atmospheric textures on the sixth album, Lost Forever // Lost Together, which surfaced in 2014. Two years afterward they released the widely acclaimed and uncompromising All Our Gods Have Abandoned Us, which they characterized as their “heaviest and darkest work” to date; it marked the last recording by founding guitarist and chief songwriter Tom Searle, who died in August 2016 following a cancer diagnosis.

In September 2017 the group released the single “Doomsday,” which originated from material partially composed by Searle prior to his death. It featured on their eighth studio album, Holy Hell, issued the subsequent year. That record introduced guitarist Josh Middleton of Sylosis, who had previously substituted on tour. Middleton co-produced and helped write the ninth album, For Those That Wish to Exist, which arrived in February 2021 and addresses climate change while featuring guest vocals from members of Parkway Drive, Royal Blood, and Biffy Clyro. Unable to tour amid the COVID-19 pandemic, the band staged an elaborate livestream performance of the album at Abbey Road Studios and issued it as a live album the following March. Having tracked their prior release remotely during the pandemic, Architects reconvened in the studio together, channeling more immediate live energy into their tenth album, The Classic Symptoms of a Broken Spirit, released in October 2022 and topping the U.K. Rock & Metal Albums Chart. Aiming to reflect the fractured atmosphere of the decade, 2024’s The Sky, The Earth & All Between signaled a return to the severe intensity of earlier work, confronting tribalism and polarization through tracks that include collaborations with House of Protection and Amira Elfeky and showcase the full range of their sound.