Architects - Lost Forever // Lost Together (2014)Release ID: 3214
No one should underestimate the riding complexity of Architects, no matter how easy it seems. After making their entrance into the TDEP-inspired technical math-metalcore scene with their first two albums, the quintet from Brighton stunned the world with their third album Hollow Crown which I heard is one of the finish metal juggernaut albums in the UK to end the 2000s. This caused the band to think so much of their greatness that it caused their follow-up The Here And Now to derail them off track.
People who were angry about that drastic change into a more melodic direction were thinking, "'Day in Day Out', more like 'Day in SELL-OUT'!!" Even the band hated it! So over a year later, they forged Daybreaker which pushed them back to their heavier sound while still exploring new territory. But then, guitarist Tim Hillier-Brook left the band, they dropped out of Century Media, and touring was canceled due to exhaustion and guitarist Tom Searle's leg surgery to remove a cancerous part of his skin, which did not work; he would pass away after their seventh album. Anyway, the band managed to forge a metalcore path that would never be lost, in album #6 Lost Forever//Lost Together!
"Gravedigger" opens the album with every great thing the band can encapsulate; impassioned vocal energy, energetic breakdowns, tight rhythms, and an army-calling chorus. An excellently wild representation of any of the band's achievements! Then we blast through the drumming and riffing of "Naysayer", one of the band's heaviest songs yet, but the atmospheric chorus and clean vocals also sink in and never lose their grip. "Broken Cross" builds up atheistic rage and tight riffing.
"The Devil Is Near" warns us with screamed lyrical commentary about how we must learn from our environmental mistakes and beat "The Devil" who's been making us do those mistakes. "Dead Man Talking" is a song that might've inspired Veil of Maya to move to their current djent-metalcore sound, dealing with the topic of whistleblowers getting persecuted despite being praised for their actions. The album's two-minute instrumental intermission "Red Hypergiant" is named after the biggest existing star in the universe and samples a Carl Sagan film. Tom Searle barrages through the abrasive chorus of "C.A.N.C.E.R.", the thing that would kill him a couple years later.
The measured screaming breaks the atmosphere of "Colony Collapse", while its ardent lyrics keep moving precisely as the band stays confident at the top of their game. "Castles in the Air" has a more epic progressive mood as the lyrics point out the band's anxieties. "Youth is Wasted on the Young" is a brooding song featuring Murray Macleod of The Xcerts. Then it descends into "The Distant Blue", a 5-minute closer reflecting upon the engaging fury throughout the record's 43-minute length.
Lost Forever//Lost Together deserves massive applause in Architects' path to genuine triumph. It's a masterpiece that should really be praised, especially the spectacular guitar work of Tom Searle. RIP....
Favorites: "Gravedigger", "Naysayer", "Dead Man Talking", "Castles in the Air", "The Distant Blue"
