xdevx – cd & live reviews

Somewhere on this planet there must be a secret nest of metalcore where fabulous bands are bred, trained and sent out with different IDs. Funnily enough that these bands don’t sound alike but develop their own styles as soon as they see the light of day. This camp is most likely run by british record company United by Fate bringing out newcomers like A Textbook Tragedy or recently defunct Johnny Truant. Sure thing that big major kraken Century Media tried to hire their startling  flagship: Architects. Their already third attempt “Hollow Crown” covers – and the Brownie point is that they do it very subtle – groovy moshparts heeling on metalcore, straight downhill death, yet fewer weird signatureladen song structures including technical tudelu than on the previous efforts, but more catchy refrains (”In Elegance”), noisecore affinity and the occasional larger-than-life moment as heard on “Numbers for nothing” and the closing track “Hollow Crown”. This may sound like a boring consensus record, but in their very own manner they feel so comfortable with it that it never runs out of focus or into obvious cliché. Instead of wasting your precious time on listening hours over hours to Mastodon, Cult of Luna, Fear Factory, Parkway Drive, Unearth, As I lay dying or other metal/-core faggots, you’d better check the essence of all of the above mentioned groups in condensed form on “Hollow Crown”. This one is a life-saver and alongside with Genghis Tron’s “Board up the House” and Origin’s “Antithesis” the best metal/-core album of the year – for sure.

Architects – Hollow Crown teaser

(mehr zum Bewertungssystem findet Ihr in der Score-Legende)