Album review: Architects – The Sky, The Earth & All Between

Here it is, then – the latest pendulum swing from Architects. With their last two albums, For Those That Wish To Exist (2021) and the classic symptoms of a broken spirit (2022), the Brighton heroes did something no-one had expected of them: diverting from the musical and thematic heaviness of the records that had come before, paring down the technicality in order to do more with less, which, for them, presented a fresh challenge.

And while For Those That Wish To Exist perfectly embodied that bigger and more bombastic idea, its follow-up saw its restless creators already pushing for new sounds and new ground, much of it less heavy and more deliberate in its catchiness, and proving somewhat divisive as a result.

The Sky, The Earth & All Between (produced by Jordan Fish) is, in part, an album for those who feared Architects were gradually uncoupling from the colossal and the cacophonic. The band are well aware of what people think, of course, which is why first single, Seeing Red, released all the way back in December 2023, had vocalist Sam Carter acknowledge what many expect his band to be (‘I felt it when they said, “We only ever love you when you’re seeing red”’).

Sure, those looking for breakdowns to get mouths downturned and nostrils flared need only wait for the latter half of opening track Elegy, which suddenly goes from spacy and anthemic to sticking metal up uranus. Or Whiplash, which is so angry that it features a sample of groaning, granite-faced chef Gordon Ramsay. Or Brain Dead, which is as close a sonic approximation of having your cranium clawed at from the inside as we’ve heard in some time.

But The Sky, The Earth & All Between does more than reaffirm its creators’ status as a band with a mastery of the seismic. It’s also a reminder of all the touches and textures that have snowballed into their sound along the way – the Prodigy-esque electronics in Blackhole, which also features an old-school guitar solo; the industrial flirtations of Judgement Day – as Architects continue on their mission to push metalcore and our consciousness into greater realms. Admittedly, not everything on this part of the quest is a total success. Everything Ends feels a little too familiar, while Evil Eyes cleaves rather too close to Deftones’ sexy surge to be truly original.

Overwhelmingly, though, The Sky, The Earth & All Between is the album you want from Architects at this stage, acknowledging everything that they have been and they are now. So it’s serious, fun, deep, kneejerk, angry, and beautiful. It’s like life, then, only louder.

Verdict: 4/5

For fans of: Spiritbox, Parkway Drive, While She Sleeps

The Sky, The Earth & All Between is out now via Epitaph

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