- Archivist
- Construct
- Posthardcore/Atmosphereic metal
- International
- 2017
- 8.9/10
Immediately I’m hearing some differences from their debut LP. Namely the posthardcore direction I mentioned seems intensified with Construct. Certainly not a bad thing but the faster more chaotic opening didn’t quite have the effect of the delicate creeping opener on their self-titled LP. The cleans also come in much earlier and often. As the album progresses I get a sense of the hardcore side of things being upped a bit which I am all for. There’s less of the black vibe and more of the heart-wrenching cracking voice you expect from Birds In Row. When the death vocals come they tend to be used to accentuate the heavier moments by intensifying the deeper vocal range closer to GOOD metalcore/mathcore than black metal. I feel they are a lot heavier now.
Again, the album art was done by Alex CF – Instagram – who again did vocals on this record. Completely insane the level this dude is at. This piece is strikingly similar but transformed.
Everything I loved about the first album is here, it’s just arranged differently and this time around I had a bit more trouble engaging lyrically due to the pure density and specific nature of it all. It’s a very impressive set of lyrics, essentially prose that when combined creates something between a short story and a series of connected poems. I feel like the lyrics are communicated musically to a lesser extent this time around, perhaps due to the more frequent chaos. If this bands lyrics were all compiled into a book with images to accompany, I would buy it and enjoy it in it’s own right.
It deserves time to dissect properly, a scholarly approach I may have the time to endure at a future date. To review this as thoroughly as I wish would require a lot of knowledge I just don’t have. One thing I did catch was:
//I have seen Chicxulub melt like glass
and the great beasts felled in the aftermath
skies vomit smog and choke the sun
and glaze with rigor mortis
Chicxulub is familiar with me because last year for uni I read a story of the same name here. It’s also crater in mexico from a comet. Given the scifi themes present throughout their work I’m guessing they may have read the story but I can’t see how it connects to things. I can be smart but I can never be smarter than those smarter than myself. It feels like similar stories from the previous record but even more so encrypted in metaphor and jargon. The more organic aspects of the previous seem to be replaced with more mechanical aspects. Perhaps this is the story the progression of album art is showing us. With the first human astronaut piece, and now this mechanical piece with similarly long hair, is it her? This is the benefit of having an in house artist, consistency of theme.
Another interesting aspect is that the tracks lyrics are dated. Mostly as far as 4500AD and 2268AD but then there’s the odd one from 1595 that appears to be some kind of conversation with science revolutionary Kepler. Continuing the theme of science centered characters fictional or otherwise. Another one I’m getting in FLAC form on Bandcamp (name your own price, give something) and will surely be digesting for sometime, likely I’ll need to do further reading of my own. This band has presented me with an exciting opportunity to combine my love of music and literature. If anyone can suggest some reading that might shed light on these concepts then hit me up. I have a feeling the disconnect I’m having is that these are more original stories than references.
And that’s about the extent of my comprehension at this point. Musically it appeals to me much the same but I feel like it lacks the space present in their self titled. It’s a bit more busy so the peaks aren’t quite as effective. It also feels less emotional and more enraged or frustrated, like a machine trying to comprehend it’s function. The final track however peaks big, like the whole album was leading to this complex conclusion. Long metal can be a hard genre to pull off without boring people or playing the same shit everyone else already did, Archivist make it their own and offer a well of curiosities.
More of what I want but now with extra mystery. The lower score this time is more to do with my personal preference of the overall arrangement (Self-Titled was a hell of a first impression) and that perhaps I just like the first arc of the story more. Here’s hoping the third album will give some resolution.
I could listen to these albums for days.
8.9/10
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