Architects, the Brighton-based outfit Kerrang! recently awarded the title of “Best British Live Band” and The Guardian said feature “gloriously crafted anthems of defiance,” return with their eighth album, Holy Hell, on November 9 via Epitaph Records. The band has simultaneously debuted the song and video for “Hereafter”, which was directed by Jeb Hardwick.
Holy Hell marks the band’s first release since the untimely passing of Tom Searle, Architect’s founding guitarist, principal songwriter and twin brother to drummer Dan. ‘In those first months after Tom’s death, I didn’t deal with it at all and I felt so unhappy and anxious,” Dan explains. “I’d ignored it and just tried to cope. But I knew that at some point, I had to learn from it.’
‘It’s at times like that you ask yourself, ‘What is left?’’ adds vocalist Sam Carter. ‘As a group of friends, we had to find something.’
‘Ultimately, there were two choices,’ Dan says. ‘Feel sorry for yourself and believe the world to be a horrible place and let it defeat you. Or let it inspire us to live the life that Tom would have wanted us to live. I was very worried about people taking away a despondent message from the album. I felt a level of responsibility to provide a light at the end of the tunnel for people who are going through terrible experiences.’
Finding a way forward, the band spent six months from the Fall of 2017 through the Spring of this year recording what would become the 11-song album, with Dan and guitar player Josh Middleton handling production. ‘For me, broadly speaking Holy Hell is about pain: the way we process it, cope with it, and live with it,” Dan offers. “There is value in pain. It’s where we learn, it’s where we grow.’
Holy Hell track list:
Death Is Not Defeat
Hereafter
Mortal After All
Holy Hell
Damnation
Royal Beggars
Modern Misery
Dying To Heal
The Seventh Circle
Doomsday
A Wasted Hymn
Architects have also announced their biggest-ever European/UK tour, taking place in January and February 2019. The band will be playing several arenas, including Wembley SSE Arena in London, Lotto Arena in Antwerp, Mitsubishi-Electric-Halle in Dusseldorf, as well as the biggest venues they’ve played in Europe so far. Before this tour, they be heading to Russia and Ukraine for three shows in December this year. Please see below for the full list of dates. Tickets will go on sale this Friday, September 14 at 9:00am UK / 10:00am CET.
4 Dec 2018 – St. Petersburg, A2 (RU)
6 Dec 2018 – Moscow, Adrenaline Stadium (RU)
8 Dec 2018 – Kiev, Stereoplaza (UKR)
6 Jan 2019 – Stockholm, Fryshuset Arenan (SE)
8 Jan 2019 – Copenhagen, Vega (DK) –
10 Jan 2019 – Dusseldorf, Mitsubishi-Electric-Halle (DE)
11 Jan 2019 – Antwerp, Lotto Arena (BE)
12 Jan 2019 – Amsterdam, AFAS Live (NL)
14 Jan 2019 – Manchester, O2 Victoria Warehouse (UK)
17 Jan 2019 – Glasgow, O2 Academy (UK)
18 Jan 2019 – Cardiff, Motorpoint Arena (UK)
19 Jan 2019 – London, The SSE Arena Wembley (UK)
21 Jan 2019 – Luxembourg, Luxexpo (LUX)
22 Jan 2019 – Lyon, Transbordeur (FR)
24 Jan 2019 – Barcelona, Razzmatazz (ES)
25 Jan 2019 – Bilbao, Santana 27 (ES)
27 Jan 2019 – Paris, Olympia (FR)
28 Jan 2019 – Zurich, Halle 622 (CH)
29 Jan 2019 – Vienna, Gasometer (AT)
30 Jan 2019 – Milan, Alcatraz (IT) Italy
31 Jan 2019 – Prague, Forum Karlin (CZ)
1 Feb 2019 – Warsaw, Stodola (PO)
2 Feb 2019 – Leipzig, Haus Auensee (DE)
3 Feb 2019 – Offenbach, Stadthalle (DE)
5 Feb 2019 – Berlin, Verti Music Hall (DE)
6 Feb 2019 – Munich, Zenith (DE) – TICKETS
8 Feb 2019 – Hamburg, Sporthalle (DE)