ARCHITECTS are back with "Machine," out now via Epitaph and their first new music since the Brighton band's eleventh album, "The Sky, The Earth & All Between," in February 2025.
Written by drummer Dan Searle and vocalist Sam Carter and produced by Searle, "Machine" pushes further in the direction the last record established: soaring melody stacked against genuine weight, resolving into the kind of chorus that has turned ARCHITECTS from a metalcore band with a cult following into one of the largest acts in heavy music. The accompanying video, directed by Jensen Noen, deals with perception and control, sliding from a grounded reality into something increasingly abstract and distorted.
The single arrives on the back of the strongest commercial run of the band's career. "The Sky, The Earth & All Between" produced back-to-back No. 1 singles at Mainstream Rock Radio in the United States with "Everything Ends" and "Broken Mirror," took the No. 23 spot on the Billboard Rock Albums chart and earned the band an iHeartRadio Music Award nomination. Kerrang! called the album "serious, fun, deep, kneejerk, angry, and beautiful. It's like life, then, only louder."
That album was an interesting balancing act. It moved between outright aggression, melody and outright experimentation without losing its shape — an elemental summary of everything ARCHITECTS have been and might still become, stretching from the ferocity of "Blackhole" to the pop-metal construction of "Everything Ends."
The distance travelled is worth noting. ARCHITECTS started out playing pub shows in Brighton; they have since played stadium stages alongside METALLICA and LINKIN PARK and headlined arenas on their own terms, without ever fully abandoning the sound that got them there. Whether that evolution has cost them anything remains the standing argument among longtime listeners, but the band have never pretended to be interested in standing still.
Next up is a run of European arena dates supporting KORN, which will put "Machine" in front of crowds well beyond the band's own following. No album has been announced yet.