Planning permission
Brighton's Architects fit in perfectly with the very metal bias of the Rock Sound Cave line up on the first day of Guilfest and they get a good turn out for their own particular brand of brutal metal assault.
Whilst overtly hardcore they do inject some good melodies, particularly in the slower parts of the songs. There's no let up in the vocals though, which are screamed and shouted throughout and after a few songs they do begin to grate somewhat. I can't help feeling that with the obvious musical capabilities they would have far greater appeal if they mixed the vocal styles up a little. Vocals aside songs like 'Minesweeper' show just how tight they are as a unit, the drumming is spot on and the overall intensity of the performance impresses.
Vocalist Matt Johnson does his best to get the crowd animated but with limited success, he does manage to inspire a two man mosh pit though! To be fair it's by no means the bands fault, they just seem to have encountered a fairly apathetic crowd today and by contrast they give a solid and entertaining performance. Final song 'The Darkest Tomb' keeps up the relentless tempo and to their credit the majority of the crowd stay with them, giving them a decent if not enthusiastic reception as they finish.
Architect have plenty going for them but they could be so much more, a succession of very good and more musical interludes are just destroyed by what are at times distinctly painful vocals.