''The Architect'' is the fourth full-length studio album by American

rock Rock most often refers to: * Rock (geology), a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals or mineraloids * Rock music, a genre of popular music Rock or Rocks may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * Rock, Caerphilly, a location in Wales ...

band

Eidola Eidola is an American rock band from Salt Lake City, Utah, formed in 2011. The band consists of lead vocalist, composer and multi-instrumentalist Andrew Wells, guitarist Sergio Medina, bass guitarist James Johnson, guitarist and unclean vocalist ...

, released on September 17, 2021 through

Blue Swan Records William Swan (born December 5, 1985) is an American songwriter and musician born in Sacramento, California. He is best known as the lead guitarist and co-founder of the American post-hardcore band Dance Gavin Dance and as the founder and owner ...

and Rise Records. The album serves as a follow-up to their third studio album, ''To Speak, To Listen'' (2017), and is their first to not feature rhythm guitarist Brandon Bascom, who departed from the band in December 2017 and was replaced by

Royal Coda Royal Coda is an American rock band based in Sacramento, California, founded by lead guitarist Sergio Medina. They are known for their amalgamation of progressive rock, psychedelic rock, and post-hardcore. The band currently consists of lead voc ...

guitarist Sergio Medina. It is also the band's first release since their record label Blue Swan Records partnered with Rise in February 2021. The album was produced by Ian Cooperstein and

Kris Crummett Kris Crummett is an American record producer and owner of the Interlace Audio in Portland, Oregon. Crummett started recording in 2002. He has worked with many notable indie music record labels, including Rise Records, Epitaph Records, Fearless Re ...

with recording sessions taking place at Interlace Audio in

Portland Portland most commonly refers to: * Portland, Oregon, the largest city in the state of Oregon, in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States * Portland, Maine, the largest city in the state of Maine, in the New England region of the northeas ...

Oregon Oregon () is a U.S. state, state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. The Columbia River delineates much of Oregon's northern boundary with Washington (state), Washington, while the Snake River delineates much of it ...

. The lead single, "Counterfeit Shrines", was released on June 29, 2021. The second and third singles, "Hidden Worship" and "Perennial Philosophy", were each released on August 13. The fourth and final single, "Mutual Fear", featuring

Jon Mess Dance Gavin Dance is an American rock band from Sacramento, California, formed in 2005. The band currently consists of vocalists Jon Mess and Tilian Pearson, lead guitarist Will Swan, rhythm guitarist Andrew Wells, and drummer Matthew Mingus. T ...

of American

post-hardcore Post-hardcore is a punk rock music genre that maintains the aggression and intensity of hardcore punk but emphasizes a greater degree of creative expression. It was initially inspired by post-punk and noise rock. Like post-punk, the term has been ...

band

Dance Gavin Dance Dance Gavin Dance is an American rock band from Sacramento, California, formed in 2005. The band currently consists of vocalists Jon Mess and Tilian Pearson, lead guitarist Will Swan, rhythm guitarist Andrew Wells, and drummer Matthew Mingus. ...

, was released on September 14. To promote the album, the band toured as support on Dance Gavin Dance's ''

Afterburner An afterburner (or reheat in British English) is an additional combustion component used on some jet engines, mostly those on military supersonic aircraft. Its purpose is to increase thrust, usually for supersonic flight, takeoff, and comba ...

'' US tour in September and October 2021, performed at the second inaugural SwanFest in

Sacramento ) , image_map = Sacramento County California Incorporated and Unincorporated areas Sacramento Highlighted.svg , mapsize = 250x200px , map_caption = Location within Sacramento ...

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

in April 2022, and will tour as support on Dance Gavin Dance's UK tour in January 2023.

Background

On June 2, 2017,

released their third studio album, ''To Speak, To Listen'', on

, an independent

record label A record label, or record company, is a brand or trademark of music recordings and music videos, or the company that owns it. Sometimes, a record label is also a publishing company that manages such brands and trademarks, coordinates the produ ...

owned by American musician and

guitarist Will Swan. In support of the album, the band embarked on a North American tour with

The Ongoing Concept The Ongoing Concept is a heavy metal music, metal band from Rathdrum, Idaho, formed by three brothers and their childhood friend in 2009. They released an independent EP in 2010 entitled ''What Is My Destiny'', an independent EP in 2011, ''Arrow ...

and Save Us From The Archon, which took place from August 17 to September 19, 2017. On December 15, 2017, Eidola announced the headlining To Speak, To Listen Tour, with support from rock band Capstan and singer Andrés, which spanned from February 8 to March 3, 2018. On the same day, the group released an instrumental version of their third studio album, ''To Speak, To Listen''. Prior to the group's To Speak, To Listen Tour, the band's original lead guitarist Brandon Bascom stepped down and was subsequently replaced by former Stolas and

guitarist Sergio Medina. After having supported American

band

's US co-headlining tour with

CHON CHON is a mnemonic acronym for the four most common elements in living organisms: carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, and nitrogen. The acronym CHNOPS, which stands for ''c''arbon, ''h''ydrogen, ''n''itrogen, ''o''xygen, ''p''hosphorus, ''s''ulfur, r ...

in 2017, Eidola performed at the band's inaugural SwanFest in

Anaheim Anaheim ( ) is a city in northern Orange County, California, part of the Los Angeles metropolitan area. As of the 2020 United States Census, the city had a population of 346,824, making it the most populous city in Orange County, the 10th-most p ...

on March 30, 2019. In December 2019, it was confirmed that Eidola would be performing at the second annual SwanFest on April 25, 2020, in

Sacramento ) , image_map = Sacramento County California Incorporated and Unincorporated areas Sacramento Highlighted.svg , mapsize = 250x200px , map_caption = Location within Sacramento ...

. Due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

, SwanFest was postponed to April 2022 and the group withheld the announcement of their 2020 headlining tour.

Recording

On November 11, 2019, the band confirmed that their fourth studio album was completed and would be "ready in early 2020" with a tour announcement to follow in support of its release. In April 2020, Andrew Wells confirmed the title of their fourth record would be ''The Architect'', but expressed uncertainty on the release date amidst the

and its effect on the music industry. The album was produced by Ian Cooperstein and

at Interlace Audio Recording Studios in

. Recording sessions took place over the course of a year and concluded in early 2020, which was prolonged by Wells' involvement with

. The album was postponed several times due to the COVID-19 pandemic and the legality of their record contract with

becoming partnered with Rise Records and

BMG Rights Management BMG Rights Management GmbH (also known simply as BMG) is an international music company based in Berlin, Germany. It combines the activities of a music publisher and a record label. BMG was founded in October 2008 after Bertelsmann sold its ...

Singles

On June 29, 2021, Eidola released the lead single "Counterfeit Shrines", accompanied with its music video and the album's announcement and pre-order bundles. On August 11, the group released the second and third singles, "Hidden Worship" and "Perennial Philosophy", to digital download and

streaming Streaming media is multimedia that is delivered and consumed in a continuous manner from a source, with little or no intermediate storage in network elements. ''Streaming'' refers to the delivery method of content, rather than the content it ...

services, alongside their respective music videos. On September 14, the fourth and final single, "Mutual Fear", featuring

, was released along with its music video.

Tour

To promote the album, Eidola toured as support on American

band

's Afterburner Tour from September 7 to October 20, 2021. Originally, the band was scheduled to tour on

progressive metal Progressive metal (sometimes shortened to prog metal) is a broad :Fusion music genres, fusion music genre melding heavy metal music, heavy metal and progressive rock, combining the loud "aggression" and amplified electric guitar, guitar-driven s ...

band

Intervals Interval may refer to: Mathematics and physics * Interval (mathematics), a range of numbers ** Partially ordered set#Intervals, its generalization from numbers to arbitrary partially ordered sets * A statistical level of measurement * Interval est ...

' US run in November, yet backed out due to frontman Andrew Wells needing emergency throat surgery. The band also performed at the second inaugural SwanFest on April 23, 2022 in

Sacramento ) , image_map = Sacramento County California Incorporated and Unincorporated areas Sacramento Highlighted.svg , mapsize = 250x200px , map_caption = Location within Sacramento ...

. The band will embark on Dance Gavin Dance's headlining UK tour in September 2022 along with Caskets and

Volumes Volume is a measure of occupied three-dimensional space. It is often quantified numerically using SI derived units (such as the cubic metre and litre) or by various imperial or US customary units (such as the gallon, quart, cubic inch). The defi ...

Critical reception

''The Architect'' has received mostly positive acclaim from music critics. The album was praised for the band's use of

progressive rock Progressive rock (shortened as prog rock or simply prog; sometimes conflated with art rock) is a broad genre of rock music that developed in the United Kingdom and United States through the mid- to late 1960s, peaking in the early 1970s. Init ...

and

metal A metal (from Greek μέταλλον ''métallon'', "mine, quarry, metal") is a material that, when freshly prepared, polished, or fractured, shows a lustrous appearance, and conducts electricity and heat relatively well. Metals are typicall ...

elements within their

sound. In a review from ''Sputnik Music'', the album was rated a 3.5/5 stars with the reviewer stating that "the album is cut too much from the same cloth as ''To Speak, to Listen'', and while many fans of the genre will eat this up, it does nothing to push the limits and stays well-entrenched in familiarity." Helana Michelle of ''Glasse Factory'' praised the album for its "melancholic nature

hat A hat is a head covering which is worn for various reasons, including protection against weather conditions, ceremonial reasons such as university graduation, religious reasons, safety, or as a fashion accessory. Hats which incorporate mecha ...

shares a real deep and personal set of experiences shared by Andrew himself."

Track listing

Credits and personnel

;Eidola * Andrew Wells – lead vocals, guitar, bass guitar, piano, string arrangements, composer * Sergio Medina – lead guitar * Matthew Dommer – rhythm guitar, unclean vocals * James Johnson – bass guitar * Matthew Hansen – drums, percussion ;Production *

– producer, engineer * Ian Cooperstein – producer * Richard Orozoco – recording engineer * Gigi Zimmer – recording engineer ;Additional personnel *

– guest vocals (on "Mutual Fear") * Chantelle Wells – guest vocals

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Architect, The 2021 albums Blue Swan Records albums Rise Records albums Albums produced by Kris Crummett