Music: Architect: All Is Not Lost

Our Take

Architect is a group that formed from the remnants of New York hardcore bands Found Dead Hanging and Word as a Virus, combining extremely heavy riffs with a fast moving tempo. The result is an album that will hook listeners with its intensity but leave them hanging due to its somewhat short length. All Is Not Lost showcases some impressive screaming and tight instrumental work, but it could use just a few more songs to feel fully fleshed out.

The issue with this release is that there are only 11 tracks, and three of them are brief filler tracks. This means that there are only 8 full songs, which are fairly short in length to begin with. Although the songs themselves are very well done, the sparse amount of songs on this album leaves it feeling a little underdeveloped. Some listeners are likely to feel that almost as soon as this album has come into its own, the disc is nearing its end.

There are some brief electronic elements in Architect's music, but this is mainly in the brief filler tracks. With a few exceptions, almost all of the songs on this release are extremely fast paced hardcore. Every single guitar riff is hard hitting, and will definitely get people moving. Each song has a feeling of its own, keeping things fresh throughout the entirety of All Is Not Lost.

Speaking of intense, the vocals of Architect are very heavy and unrelenting. They consist of higher pitched screams that are both garbled yet understandable at the same time. This creates a vocal style that is both familiar to listeners of the hardcore genre, but still sounds unique enough to attract plenty of new fans. The lyrics discuss a variety of different topics, including religion, political issue, and even civil liberties. Thanks to Architect's decision to discuss topics such as these (and not your usual self esteem/emotional topics), these songs feel very fresh.

All Is Not Lost is unique enough to attract fans of a genre that has seen plenty of generic bands start to pop up in recent memory. Although this release is arguably a bit short, it is still a surprise hit that will hopefully still be remembered later on this year. If Architect can continue on in this style and create an album with a bit more substance, than they could truly become one of the next great hardcore groups out there. But as is, they are still a guilty pleasure that listeners will find themselves putting on again and again.

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Chris Dahlberg
January 21, 2007