Live Review

Architects – Koko, London

• 11th Oct 2010

A large sold out venue, an adoring audience composed of young good looking folk of both sexes, a band whose Myspace page features a mug shot and Twitter feed for each member of the band (haircuts and pouting abound)…sounds a bit like a boy band has rolled into town, doesn’t it? Think again, the band in question are Architects, whose brutal metalcore assault wouldn’t really sit that well with Smash Hits’ (RIP) core demographic.

And brutal is certainly the word. Even right at the back you can feel every thump of the unrelenting bass drum rattling your ribcage. This physical involvement in combination with the devoted love shown by the audience, who rapturously cheer every song the band introduce, mean that it’s hard not to get carried away by it all. There is certainly something of a band at the peak of their powers (complete with stage banter as banal as a Match of the Day pundit) about this lot, and they certainly belong on a stage.

The fans’ devotion is telling though. This is isn’t for the casual passerby, and to the untrained ear it can be difficult to tell where one song ends and the other begins. This doesn’t really subtract from the experience – despite their technical ability this is no night for subtleties – but had the set run any longer the 45 minutes it lasted I think boredom would’ve be an issue.

Actually, to be honest, it’s best that they stick to solid, but intricate, riffing and broken metalcore spazzing (the tunes do that wonderful mathcorey thing where it sounds like the song might fall apart at given moment). When they deviate from this formula it is for the purposes of the big sentimental choruses that seem to have become ubiquitous in heavier music. It’s a shame really because I think such choruses are largely responsible for keeping a lot of serious musicheads away from a lot of music in which there is a lot to appreciate.

In fairness they also played a new song that added some more credible variety to the set in the form of some satisfying metal riffery (Pantera-esque). And kudos to the audience for their open minded reception to the new material – they may not have the known the words but certainly weren’t coy in showing their approval. The lowlight of the set was the title track from 2009’s Hollow Crown, the last song prior to the encore. A ridiculous self indulgent power ballad, that saw the stage lit up in purple and front man Sam Carter illuminated in a heavenly glow. But it’s not for me to judge (and Architects don’t need my seal of approval) and the fans seemed to love it anyway. Blind adoration? What was I saying about boybands again…?