Architects

Doomsday (2007)

Patrik R.

The UK-based metalcore band Architects went through one of the hardest things imaginable over the last few years, both as a band and as human being when their guitar player Tom Searle (twin brother of the band´s drummer Dan) was diagnosed with cancer and ultimately passed away from it in August 2016. Their last studio record „All Our Gods Have Abandoned Us“ was released just a few short months before Tom´s passing and, understandably, for a while the entire future of the band seemed to be at stake. But thankfully for us fans Architects decided to keep going and to honor and celebrate the music they had created with Tom.

And the last song they had been working on together is Doomsday, a single that came out in September of 2017. It is the first musical sign of life since „All Our Gods..“ and this might actually be the most powerful and most emotionally resonating song the band has ever produced.

Sam Carter´s vocals have always been among the very, very best in their genre and the way he uses his voice throughout the entire song to vent his pain and sadness is simply striking. Tom´s musical influence is obvious in every riff and melody, in every technical second, in the perfect combination of insanely hard-hitting guitars and drums and atmospheric synthesizers that simply lift the entire song to a different level. Lyrically, Doomsday deals with the aftermath of a loved one´s passing and the inevitability of it all. The amazing and resonating balance that Architects have managed to strike here is the palpable pain and loss on the one hand combined with a celebration of everything that Tom brought to the band and the pride about finishing Tom´s last song in a way that would have him proud of the end result and every fan excited about the future of Architects. You can feel how important this song was to the band and how important it was to do this one right. All I can say as a long-time fan of the band and the genre is this: Not many bands in a long time have gotten a song so very, very right.