Architects add power-glam polish to their arsenal on The Classic Symptoms Of A Broken Spirit

Chart-topping metalcore monsters Architects return with extra arena-sized swagger on The Classic Symptoms Of A Broken Spirit

By Stephen Dalton
( Classic Rock )
last updated
Architects: The Classic Symptoms Of A Broken Spirit cover art
(Image: © Epitaph)

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Building on the next-level momentum of their 2021 chart-topper For Those That Wish To Exist, Brighton metalcore icons Architects crank up the cinematic melodrama to 11 again on this sumptuous, huge-sounding tenth album. 

The title and lyrics may scream apocalyptic gloom - Living is Killing Us, Doomscrolling, Born Again Pessimist - but there is an increasingly bright, infectious, power-glam polish to the band's sound.

A deep seam of goth-pop melody also runs through these fire-breathing anthems, from the Muse-style supercharged paranoia of Deep Fake to the area-stomping electro-goth of A New Moral Low Ground and the thunderous riff stampede of Tear Gas, which sounds like the Prodigy blow-trorching a busload of boy bands. 

For their final flourish, these hardcore veterans nod to their roots with the hurtling screampunk blast of Be Very Afraid before fading out on a fragrant flurry of birdsong. After so much darkness, this airy dawn chorus strikes a pleasingly poetic, cautiously upbeat note. 

Stephen Dalton
Stephen Dalton

Stephen Dalton has been writing about all things rock for more than 30 years, starting in the late Eighties at the New Musical Express (RIP) when it was still an annoyingly pompous analogue weekly paper printed on dead trees and sold in actual physical shops. For the last decade or so he has been a regular contributor to Classic Rock magazine. He has also written about music and film for Uncut, Vox, Prog, The Quietus, Electronic Sound, Rolling Stone, The Times, The London Evening Standard, Wallpaper, The Film Verdict, Sight and Sound, The Hollywood Reporter and others, including some even more disreputable publications.