Five years. It’s been five long years since Architects made the trek across the pond to play live in the states again, but we finally got them back here for the Seeing Red Tour alongside Of Mice & Men and While She Sleeps.
Now I haven’t been to the House of Blues to cover a show since late 2022 when we here at Ghost Cult covered the comeback tour of Angels & Airwaves, which I’m sure can be linked down below, BUT we’re here tonight for something very different… metalcore through and through. So let’s lace up our Vans and jump head first into a show that I’ve been waiting for since it was announced.
While She Sleeps is a band I have been actively trying to see live now for over a decade. Ever since I first heard their song “Seven Hills” off of their 2013 album This Is The Six (BMG Music), that video and the emotion poured into that song instantly made me a fan and that has carried me thru the last 11 years of their music. Finally getting to see them live was almost like rolling up on the final boss of a video game you’ve been plugging away on for years. Rocketing onto the stage with the energy of a group of coked out Energizer bunnies and the gratitude to be out on stage with their best friends, While She Sleeps left it ALL on the stage that night. Eight songs, all killer no filler. A solid mix of new and old, sadly nothing from This Is The Six, but they made up for it by playing “Silence Speaks”, and let me tell you something… finally hearing that song live did something to me. I truly can not speak highly enough of While She Sleeps, go listen to them, now. Lawrence, Sean, Mat, Aaran, and Adam will make damn sure to take care of you and ears.
If you went to Van’s Warped Tour at all in the early 2010’s you now this next band very well, you couldn’t escape them back then… from Costa Mesa, CA and a new album of songs to dole out we had Of Mice & Men on stage truly making me feel like the elder emo I know I am. I haven’t seen these gentlemen since 2011 when they co-headlined the Decade of Destruction Tour alongside As I Lay Dying, The Ghost Inside, and Iwrestledabearonce. So safe to say, I was excited to see what they could do live since “Second & Sebring” was one of my most played songs on my iPod Classic. I heard everything my little emo heart wanted to hear. Nine songs of melodic, heavy bliss. Between “You Make Me Sick”, “Would You Still Be There”, “Bones Exposed”, “O.G. Loko”, and closing out the set with “Second & Sebring” I could’ve ended the night here and been fully content with my Monday night in the city. But we still have one more band to take us thru to metalcore nirvana. Of Mice & Men absolutely killed it in every possible way other than their set not being longer. 10/10: Would Recommend. Go see OM&M!
Architects, Architects, Architects… where do I even start here. I just as of late have been getting really into this band, but let me tell ya, when that switch clicked… god damn, there ain’t no going back! Diving head first into this band has almost been a spiritual awakening, every song hits on some form of my psyche. Having not been in MA since May of 2019 with Thy Art Is Murder and While She Sleeps at the Worcester Palladium, Sam and the boys had some ground to make up for. And by God, did they. A massive two-tier wall of LED lights flooded the venue with a barrage of color and in some instances, call out moments in the lyrics. With three members up top and three on the stage itself, your eyes were doing full on cardio to try and take everything in. A giant setlist of 18 songs full of old, new, and everything in between. Opening with “Seeing Red” their latest single definitely carried the energy that WSS and OM&M set for the night. “Deep fake”, “Black Lungs”, “Gravedigger”, “Curse”, “Doomsday”… I can keep going, this show is not to be missed if you’re a metalcore fan. There is something here for everyone. Not a whole lot of stage banter from Sam Carter other than simply thanking Boston for taking them back after “years of ghosting you all” and telling us how “he’s changed and is a better person now” much like a toxic ex would say. To which I yelled out from the crowd, “I’ve heard it all before! Show me, don’t tell me!” Closing out the night with a monolithic encore of “Nihilist” and “Animals”, the entire crowd was one single moving unit of people, all there for one thing… the music and the emotions that it brings. It’s why I love doing what I do here at Ghost Cult.
Like I said, if you’re a metalcore fan in any capacity get tickets to this tour. It’s early enough in that you can still get tickets. Do yourself a favor, go, and then call me and thank me personally for such great life advice.
Until next folks, this has been Smallz from Ghost Cult and I approve this message.
Peace and chicken grease y’all.
Buy Architects music and merch:
https://amzn.to/4axi7ol
WORDS AND PHOTOS BY CHRIS SMALL
FOLLOW HIS WORK HERE:
https://www.instagram.com/chrissmallbrand/