As I walked in to the Odeon Concert Club for the first time I realized two things. Of all the shows I’d come to in Cleveland, I’d never seen one here, and I had no idea the extent of global audience the Brighton, Sussex, band Architects had reached in their 14 year tenure. With a full 7 studio albums and seemingly one on the horizon, it’s no wonder why. They packed the medium venue in the flats of Cleveland to the maximum capacity. Fresh on The Doomsday Tour, the club filled with hardcore, metal, and metalcore fans alike all ready to see some wonderful music.
Now, I have seen numerous interviews and “thank you’s” from bands I’ve come to love and follow that all seemed to mention the gentlemen in Architects, but I wasn’t fully aware of the influence they had over all these bands until I started listening to them. It’s clear what they’ve done for the genre when you listen to things like Discoveries and Singularity by Australian metal band, Northlane, or Life Through a Window by, now defunct, Structures but these ring true as being, at least in part, influenced by pioneers of metal/core like Architects.
Having only gotten to listen to the band within the past five years or so, being heavily into their 2014 release, Lost Forever // Lost Together, I quickly fell in love with their writing style. Having gone through the common stylistic and musical changes and experimenting that every band goes through, I’ve come to respect each album for what it is. With a setlist consisting mostly of the latest release All Our Gods Have Abandoned Us, which won them a Best Album award at the first Heavy Music Awards, as well as several of my favorite older tracks, I was not the least bit disappointed.
They played with outright ferocity from start to finish with bits of perfectly-timed calm sprinkled in just the right places to let those belting out lyrics to catch their breath. Playing everything from “A Match Made in Heaven” to “These Colours Don’t Run,” it was only slowed when the music allowed or when vocalist, Sam, stopped to give a hopeful speech on the state of the world and the positive changes those in attendance and those elsewhere could make to help each other and, more importantly, the world at large become better for all.
In all, I was overly impressed with the size of the crowd Architects drew as well as how tight they are live. You can tell they know what they’re doing and hopefully what they continue to do despite the hardships and tragedies we all know they’ve faced. Closing out their set with “Gone With the Wind” was a perfect ending to an outstanding show. The only gripe I have with the whole thing was that this was only my first time seeing them, and I wish they toured the US more often. Please do yourself a favor and try and catch this tour, and if not, check them out on any future tours they may grace us with. This was truly a night of some of the best sights and sounds in metal.
Setlist
1. A Match Made in Heaven
2. Downfall
3. Naysayer
4. Deathwish
5. Broken Cross
6. Dead Man Talking
7. Gravity
8. Phantom Fear
9. The Devil Is Near
10. C.A.N.C.E.R
11. These Colours Don’t Run
12. Gravedigger
13. Doomsday
Encore:
14. Nihilist
15. Gone With the Wind
