WHAT DO YOU THINK OF ARCHITECTS (UK)???

Architects (UK) are one of those bands who have kind of snuck beneath my radar over the years; I’ve been kind of aware of them and even listened on a couple of occasions but nothing’s ever stuck with me, in small part perhaps due to the whole Architects name confusion thing. So when Heavy Blog is Heavy posted that Architects (UK)’s new album The Here and Now is streaming on full on their MySpace page I figured I owed it myself to check them out. NOTA BENE: the first song in the player is not from the new album.

Now I’m listening to Architects’ new album and I’m just as confused as ever. Half the time they sound like Refused and kick all sorts of ass, like on “Delete, Rewind,” even if they utilize good cop / bad cop (they do it well). The other half of the time they use’90s punk-pop chord combos with super-cheesy, albeit catchy, choruses and they basically sound like a band your teenager cousin would like because he doesn’t know any better (“Learn to Live”). Sometimes they do both in the same song (“BTN”) which is all sorts of frustrating; maybe that’s just their “thing” but it ain’t for me. Pick one sound and stick to it, guys! And if you’ve got your druthers about you, make it the Refused sound… because you do it well.

So, I’ve told you what I think — what do YOU think??? Are Architects cool or do they drool???

-VN