It hasn’t been long since Architects were on our shores, touring with Bring Me The Horizon just last year. Unfortunately that tour was suddenly cut short due to an illness to Olli Sykes, but Architects promised that they would return as soon as possible to make up for the missing shows. And as it turned out, we didn’t have to wait long at all for their return, much to the delight of their fans.
Now, as the line stretches around the corner and down the street for the sold out Brisbane show at Max Watts in West End, it promises to be a killer night with everyone pumped to see the UK band perform new tracks off their 2016 release ‘All Our Gods Have Abandoned Us’.
Triple J Unearthed ran a competition to pick the local support in each city and winning the honor of opening the night are metalcore band Daybreakers.
Already the venue is starting to fill up and there are a good number of people here, judging them as they try and pump up the crowd for the main event. This seems to be proving too daunting a task though as the band seem stiff and a bit nervous as they move through their set of fairly generic, run of the mill metalcore. This band may have some potential, but it seems they need to step out of their comfort zone and to be honest, there were much better choices for the local opener in Brisbane.
Ocean Grove step up to the plate next and they are a very different sound from the previous band, and from the headlining act. It’s quite unique and can take a while to get your head around, but once you do, you either really dig it, or really hate it as they combine elements of metalcore, rap, electro and industrial sounds. And judging from the crowd in attendance, there are a lot of people really digging it and really getting involved with the band’s interaction.
Vocalist Luke Holmes loves to throw the mic open to the crowd during the anthemic tracks from their recently released album ‘The Rhapsody Tapes’ and bassist Dale Tanner is quite the entertainer as he backs up Holmes with his clean vocals. They are masters of their brand of ‘Odd World Music’ and are quite clearly rising quickly through the ranks of the Australian metalcore scene. They are definitely a band to see live, to really get the full experience their sound.
Max Watts is officially at capacity now, as the lights dim and there is a massive roar as vocalist Sam Carter leads Architects onto the stage. It’s hard at first to get a glimpse of the band as the strobe lights are going crazy and the smoke machine seems to never be turned off, so the band seem to just be silhouettes to the people who are unfortunately, packed in at the back. But what you lacked in being able to see, you were certainly able to hear. And it sounded great.
Kicking straight into ‘Nihilist’ off ‘All Our Gods Have Abandoned Us’, Architects proved their passion for their craft has not dimmed from the first chord struck. It’s a show that is full of emotion as they work through the songs they wrote with Tom Searle, their founding guitarist who passed away in August of last year and to fill his large shoes, Architects have good friend Josh Middleton from Sylosis filling in on guitars for this particular tour.
The band are in fine form as Carter shows off his brutal screams and moves about the stage and he interacts with the crowd so well as he encourages them to scream the lyrics back at him, and they obey. The band’s love for Australia is well documented and Carter constantly tells us this, with the audience eating it up and the room even erupting in an impromptu rendition of our national anthem.
The UK metalcore kings treat us to a perfect selection of tunes, combining favourites such ‘These Colours Don’t Run’, ‘C.A.N.C.E.R’, ‘Naysayer’ and ‘Gravedigger’ with a fresh selection off the new record. Their trademark breakdowns are punctuated with co2 cannons and a crazy light show that work the room into a frenzy and there are a few, almost broken people, leaving the mosh area shaking their head at the intensity and aggression of it all.
The night ended with an emotional and heartfelt tribute to Tom Searle before the band launched into their best song of the night ‘Gone with the Wind’. Even the toughest in the building would have been tearing up at the touching words Carter had for his late bandmate, and it is safe to say they were an inspiration to everyone in the building, providing a memorable performance so soon, after such a tough time. If you are lucky enough to have secured a ticket to their remaining shows, you are in for a great night from one of the best in the metalcore business.
