Sam Carter - ARCHITECTS 'Our Goal Was to Create the Best Album Opener for 'Elegy''

'Elegy' - noun (in modern literature) a poem of serious reflection, typically a lament for the dead.

A fitting title for the introduction to ARCHITECTS' latest offering The Sky, The Earth & All Between and the housing for the title's namesake. At 21 years in the music business and 11 studio albums deep, there's no better time to reflect on the past and personal growth the band have had during that time. From conquering music festival stages on a global scale, to opening shows with a mere handful of punters in attendance (more on that soon) this band has seen it all, and the one thing that's remained constant is their desire to lead the charge in crafting memorable metal music with emotion and gusto.

Frontman Sam Carter joined Wall Of Sound yet again for candid chat about their new release, and we've taken a particular interest in the album's opening number, 'Elegy', which referring to our corresponding review boasts "BIG DICK OPENING TRACK ENERGY from start to finish," serving as a statement piece for what to expect over the course of the next 11 songs.

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Taking a break from renovating his house (like a REAL LIFE Architect), Sam jumped into discussions surrounding the subject of the opener - and his overall performance throughout the record - talking about how he pushed himself as a vocalist more than ever before, because of the environment around him "When I'm surrounded by people that are encouraging like Dan [Searle] and Jordan [Fish], I get excited." Carter explains.

"I've got a vocal coach and we've been working really hard there... I think being at this point in my career [I'm] constantly surrounded by people that are amazing vocalists and people always biggen them up and I was like 'Do you know what, I'm fucking good, but let's make it really fucking good.' Sam shares with a profound sense of pride. "I don't want to rest on my laurels of just being alright. I really did want to go in and show everything I could and leave everything on the table. I'm so proud of it."

That sense of achievement is echoed by the aforementioned statement piece 'Elegy', which marks new territory for the frontman as he reaches dizzying melodic heights, while continuing to hone in on those bellowing gutturals fans have grown accustomed to. "I couldn't be prouder of that vocal performance, it's just mad." explains a noticeably dignified Sam, before adding:

‍"I showed it to my vocal coach and she's like 'Oh, you're really doing every single possible vocal style you can possibly do. It's like vocal Olympics for you'. And I was just like 'Yeah, I thought I'd make myself suffer for the rest of time opening with that [laughs]."

"What I love about that song so much is (I think) people are gonna think they know what's coming... and then they get absolutely hammered round the head with a chainsaw. It's just so dramatic. I think it really sets up the album up for how much drama is on there."

Dramatic is a great way to describe what follows, because the band have certainly put their all into this collection of music. That mentality was further enhanced by the included production duties of long time friend and former Bring Me The Horizon maestro, Jordan Fish.

Sam went into detail about the collaborative experience and what drew them back to working with a newly released Fish, revealing, "We'd worked with him before on 'Doomsday' and that obviously worked out really well, not just for us, but, I mean for the entire scene because everyone loves that riff [laughs]. But we have a great relationship with him, we always have."

"We had a discussion at a festival that we were doing with him when he was with Bring Me... just about what we were doing and our plans coming off the back of the last record, and where we felt we were going to take things. At the end of that discussion he was like 'Oh, I'd love to work with you guys again!' We were obviously like 'Yeah sure, but you're as busy as we are;' in our heads we were like, there's no way that's gonna happen.

And then he'd given us a little help [on 'Seeing Red'] and then everything happened with him leaving Bring Me and he just called up Dan and was like 'So, do you wanna do this record?' and within a couple of weeks we were in the studio. Within the first five days we had like three or four songs [finished] and 'Curse' was one that we got on the first day and from there it just felt like it worked. We knew each other really well and musically we were all aligned and we all knew what we could bring to the table."

"It was nice to have someone come in and tell us what we were good at as well... and encourage us. Also we've got such a mass amount of adoration for what he's created."

For the long term fans, the conversation didn't just focus on the new tunes - which they're set to road test this week on a run of intimate shows across the UK. Attention turned to the possibility of revisiting older songs in the setlist and we suggested (much like Fall Out Boy's Magic 8-Ball) that ARCHITECTS introduce a "Pop Up House", where they throwback to an old banger for the OGs; to which Sam pointedly elaborated:

"I would like to... This is the thing, really we've started doing a lot better since Lost Forever... We do kind of do one or two throwbacks a set on a proper run. We've got a couple on this [upcoming] one. But sometimes if we were to go back too far, you go from having an arena absolutely bouncing and losing their mind to everyone going 'what the fuck is this?' So we're very cautious of it."

"We're aware that there is people that want that stuff. There's a couple on the next one."

Talking about old bangers - we couldn't let Sam go without reflecting on the band's impressive array of opening tracks throughout their discography. These songs always set the tone for the album ahead and progressively got better with age - especially with that holy trinity back-to-back era between 2014-2018.

So we asked the Brighton screamer to rank his band's Top 5 Opening Tracks of All-Time and after some careful consideration, he narrowed it down to:

"I remember 'The Bitter End' on Daybreaker because we did a tour called 100 Days and we played that everywhere. I remember playing in Bali and there was literally five people there and us still playing that and me walking out on stage and being like 'This is fucking horrible. It's just me and a backing track.' So I'd put that in at #5. I can safely put 'Elegy' in at #1 that's for sure. I'll put 'Nihilist' in at #2 'cause 'Nihilist' is just so fucking hard. I'll then put in 'Gravedigger' [#3], then 'Death Is Not Defeat' [#4]. There's some good album openers when you put it like that!"

"That was our goal for this album though - to create the best ARCHITECTS album opener for 'Elegy' - that was our [mission] like, 'Right, how do we do this?' and yeah, we did it.'

There's a reason we keep coming back to that track. Not only have they nailed the execution, but you're in for a treat the moment you hit play on Friday. As for the fans down under, of course we grilled Carter about the band coming back down - only this time we questioned what was more plausible; coming back for another headline tour or a festival appearance?

Sam pondered momentarily, before carefully divulging:

"There's a few suggestions... and not one that we've fully found an answer for yet if I'm being completely honest; but there's definitely plans. Its just trying to figure out what the right move is and the right time. We love Australia so much so it's not something we take for granted or something that we're just gonna do on a whim. It needs to be the right time [and] the right plan."

If and when that happens, you can bet your butts we'll all be there belting out the new heavy hitters, swooning over the melodies and BLEGHing in this new era of ARCHITECTS - as per usual.

The Sky, The Earth & All Between hits your earholes on Friday, Feb 28th via Epitaph Records. Pre-order here

Interview by Paul 'Browny' Brown @brownypaul

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