Animals Is The Best Architects Song wait where are you going
BAM! New Architects! Did everyone want it? Yes. Did everyone love it? Well.
Before I had even listened to the track I had noticed opinions popping up all over social media and knew that this was definitely a song to pay attention to. We are beginning to see the generation of a new genre that a lot of ‘metal scientists’ are dubbing the ‘Bring Me The Horizon’ genre, referring to the progression of heavy music being mixed with pop motifs; it can be summarised quite simply by comparing BMTH’s older style - which is more consistently heavy (whatever that means) – with their newer focus on melody, drawing more from themes that are either commercially successful or less ‘classic metal’.
I discovered Architects after the release of their last studio album ‘Holy Hell’ and I immediately warmed to vocalist Sam Carter for his window-shattering vocals and his dedication to using the band’s platform for good: Architects are not afraid to make their beliefs known; see songs like ‘Doomsday’ and ‘Nihilist’. If their names aren’t enough of a signifier of what they’re about, you can get a pretty good idea of the strong political metalcore theme they maintain by shuffling through their discography. Despite my appreciation for their strong singles, I have struggled to make it the entire way through any of their records due to what is, in my opinion, a classic example of stylistic saturation. However, this is clearly just my opinion as they are widely regarded as an everyday staple of a healthy metalcore diet.
I have always been vocal about how much I adore Carter’s cleans; small pockets of which can be found dotted about their music, but he is more highly renowned for his screams. Animals has generated a fair amount of controversy because, to everyone’s surprise, it only consists of clean vocals. No, your eyes are not lying; a band who are practically defined by scream vocals having no scream vocals on their latest track. This is the biggest and most common issue that I am seeing spiking up from both Architects fans and prime metal elitists. Heresy! A pretender! What has 2020 done to us. Of course, I am being sarcastic.
Animals is highly relevant to the state of everyday British life due to the criticism that shimmers throughout Carter’s lyrics. I think the title of the song is pretty self-explanatory, but everything from the marching Rammstein intro rhythm to the destructive symbolism of smoke pouring from the actors in the music video takes this a step further. Go on, make another vape joke, I dare you. The hammering chugs descend into fluttery reverb and the first verse takes everything down to the floor: our prime suspect for the accused ‘Bring Me The Horizon-ness’ (I am actively trying to find a better name for it). A few more seconds and the chorus hits and…still no screams? At this point you can practically feel the doubt and disappointment setting into your average metal enthusiast. Trying not to be amused as I wonder whether they will melt when they find out that the breakdown only lasts 16 bars, I arrive at my first point.
1: Expectation and Hype
Someone famous once said, ‘The definition of insanity is doing the same thing again and again, and expecting something to change’, or however the guy from Far Cry phrased it. After eight records of the same chug chug chug *dissonant chord* chug, I would be amazed if they didn’t expect their fanbase to be taken aback by the sudden burst of colour. I was taken aback by the sudden burst of colour. When Mark messaged our house chat to ask if we had heard it yet I was one chug away from rolling my eyes and locking my phone. But I listened to it, and clearly you did too, and so the controversy is born, drawing more attention to the track. If that isn’t successful marketing, then I don’t know what is. Speaking of, this brings up questions about whether Architects made a conscious decision to avoid promo for the release. Maybe they wanted us to be taken by surprise.
2. Convergence
It’s like The Beatles releasing a rap song. Except it isn’t, because this has been done before. Many, many times actually, and it has been proven to work; some of my favourite bands and artists have become my favourite bands and artists because of their adaption. When Paramore became a sad-pop act they became wildly more successful. As a band who are on the cusp of becoming big enough to fill arenas, they can choose to release another 11-track album with a metaphorically ambiguous name, or they can write something that has motifs that have been proven time and time again to be successful. If you merge genres, you are far more likely to merge fanbases. Cult followings are cool, man, but they don’t pay off your mortgage. And this leads me onto my next argument.
3. But you’re not a true fan, you haven’t even listened to a full album.
Maybe I am biased. Maybe I have a different worldview. Maybe I want to listen to music that does more than provide the same saturated, digital guitar tones and robotic gunshot snare hits. The modern metalcore scene is possibly one of the most toxic environments I have ever been in. Never have I felt more pressure to conform to a specific way of production, which is ironic considering most of the lyrical content in the genre speaks of not conforming…makes me wonder. Having seen first-hand how metalcore acts write, produce and release, I am not lying when I say that there is a specific formula that a metalcore song must abide to, otherwise it is considered bad. Cheap. Not pure. There are no circle holes, only squares. A song is poured into a caste and it fits with no questions asked. If you don’t use Kemper, AxeFX or Dingwall you are considered unprofessional. If your song doesn’t contain x number of diminished chords it is ‘wet’. With a borderline militaristic unspoken judgement arrangement, it is no surprise that Animals has been slated again and again for even the most minor details, all for daring to be different
Some would argue that the creative direction is not different, but is instead following the metal-goes-pop trend but I have found that, more often than not, the people who are using this criticism are the same who consider metal artists ‘traitors’ for feeling that this one song might not in fact require heavy vocals. Bring Me The Horizon are loved for Oliver Sykes’s use of emotion in their songs. Carter absolutely nails this feeling of hollow hopelessness in Animals, and those haunting throes do just as good a job at conveying the bands’ collective anger at the state of our world. No, in fact they do a better job, as Carter conveys his sorrow and heartbreak.
I may not be a metalcore ninja, but I have listened to Animals countless times over the past 48 hours and I can honestly and happily state that I can’t pick out any issues with the mix, the chorus melody gives me chills from head to toe, and that it is perhaps the most memorable experience I have had with Architects to date. Carter’s lyrics leave no questions unanswered. They leave no feels un-felt, and God forbid they release a song that doesn’t sound like every other damn song in the genre. This is progressive, modern music, and if you don’t agree with the direction then you are no more sophisticated than the boomers who rejected rock ‘n’ roll seventy years ago, and you will be left in the dust of this new-age metal. Animals, you aren’t a picture-perfect Victoria sponge cake, but your recipe was tainted from the start to begin with.
Architects have been a band since 2008, to expect them to still want to be pumping the same conveyer belt all these years later is downright ignorant. Despite claiming to hate it, the metal scene has a surprisingly uncanny resemblance to the toxicity of the factory-produced pop industry.
Do you think progression in music is bad? What are your opinions on the current state of the wider metal scene? I’m going to leave you with this screenshot that I thought, if nothing else, might provide some insight into my frustration, and I hope you can listen to Animals with a fresh take. After all, it is only one song teased from a possible future album release. I wouldn’t worry, you’ll likely have your cookie-cutter metal back in no time, and we can all stop whining.
