Architects - The Here And Now (2011)

Wow. Holy shit wow. I've never listened to this band prior this album, but they're spectacular to say the least. This is Architects' 4th studio album, which is amazing considering they only released their first album Nightmares in 2006.

1. Day In Day Out [3:10]
2. Learn To Live [4:01]
3. Delete, Rewind [3:08]
4. Btn [3:57]
5. An Open Letter To Myself [3:16]
6. The Blues [3:16]
7. Red Eyes [4:17]
8. Stay Young Forever [3:02]
9. Heartburn [3:37]
10. Year In Year Out/Up And Away [7:27]

I barely even know where to begin - the vocals on The Here And Now are fantastic (both the clean and the growling),with Sam Carter singing very flexible. On Delete,Rewind for example, there's plenty of death growls and clean vocals intermingling, while Heartburn is sung similar to a light-hearted ballad. The drumming is very solid, and guitarists Tom Searly and Tim Hillier-Brook keep things interesting without going overboard on the technical-side of things.

As I said above, there is a great amount of variety in this album, with hardcore songs such as Day In, Day Out and Stay Young Forever being balance out by the more mellow An Open Letter To Myself and Heartburn. That being said, I don't particularly care for An Open Letter To Myself, but I always welcome variety in an album. Speaking of which, if you got the Century Media digipak, than the bonus track Day In Day Out (Big Chocolate Remix) is easily the most deviant song on this album; being 100% electronica/house. It's an interesting listen, but without the title stating it's a remix, I wouldn't have even known it's a remix of Day In, Day Out.

All in all, a very solid album. My only real complaint is that wasn't long enough (only 39:13) - some songs like Learn to Live and Delete, Rewind deserved to be lengthened by additional verses in my mind. All in all, Learn to Live, Delete,Rewind, Heartburn and Year In Year Out/Up And Away are all tracks I'll be listening to again and again in the future.

Final Score:
90/100