In a tiny sweatbox during a clammy night in Brighton there is a sense that Something Is About To Happen. It’s release day for Architects’ seventh album, All Our Gods Have Abandoned Us, and tonight is the first of two hometown shows to mark the occasion. Hitting the stage with opener Nihilist, they unleash all the tension that’s built up during their three months off, not to mention the previous weeks spent wrenching their angriest material yet from their darkest depths.
The song is the sound of where Architects find themselves today, Sam Carter screaming the title of the record and whirling around in a burst of outrage. Fittingly, they debut seven new songs. The highlight is second single Gone With The Wind, which sees the room singing along as it switches from bleak, ethereal melody to the crushing ‘Hope is a prison’ refrain. Deathwish combusts like a dying star, Sam urging everyone to jump “as high as they can”, as people disregard the heat to oblige.
Despite All Our Gods… foretelling the apocalypse, there are moments when Architects can’t help but smile; when everyone starts chanting “Architects! Architects! Architects!”, and when Sam surveys the bouncing crowd during Naysayer, unleashes its almighty “Bleugh!” and cracks a victorious grin. This evening is ultimately about celebration, and when Sam’s not getting serious with the crowd about supporting marine organisation Sea Shepherd, who have their usual trestle table of literature at the back, he’s thanking his fans and offering to buy them lunch. “It means so much that all of you can turn around and have a conversation with a complete stranger and start talking about something you share, because there’s not enough love in this world right now,” he declares. Then they practice what they preach, bringing on a fan called Mia, who’s flown all the way from Japan. “Mia! Mia! Mia!” the audience shouts. In another setting, Architects’ actions might come across as contrived, but at a homecoming show, it’s a welcome demonstration of togetherness. Armed with music and a message, bigger stages like Brixton await.
