Released in February, the 11th studio album from British metalcore favourites Architects, The Sky, the Earth & All Between, proved that this was a band who still have a lot of new territory to traverse.
Instrumentation that boasted some of their sharpest musicianship to date, not to mention lyricism and vocal delivery from Sam Carter that was a pure joy for new and longtime fans alike to experience, The Sky… was a welcomed return from Architects on a large scale.
Three years on from their last album (The Classic Symptoms of a Broken Spirit), Architects have experienced growth and change – the most significant of which being the departure of lead guitarist Josh Middleton, who amicably left the lineup in 2023.
The Sky, the Earth & All Between arrived as a confident step forward into a new phase for the band, and a hint at the ferocity that drives their refined music identity as it is in 2025.
For drummer Dan Searle, Architects’ evolution is one that has brought them to a space where they feel more creatively inspired than ever. With a career ticking over two decades, longevity is something that is not lost on him.
“The most satisfying thing about it is that we had a very clear intention of what we wanted to achieve with the album. We achieved it,” he explains. “I think there is a misconception that Architects is just about being really heavy and the band is at their best when they’re really heavy. That is an aspect of the band, but there are other qualities of the band that are essential too; it’s about finding the right chemistry.”
Love Music?
Get your daily dose of metal, rock, indie, pop, and everything else in between.
“It was very much about having a clear vision and intention – a target to aim for,” he adds. “We needed to drive towards that target in a way that was uncompromising. I will say, creatively, the hunger might even be bigger than ever. That’s not lost at all.
“We really felt that in the early days of the band, we missed our moment because we hadn’t blown up enough by the third or fourth album. It felt like, ‘What band gets big on their fifth album?[ In the end, our ninth album was our biggest! It was #1 in Australia and in the UK. Our tenth wasn’t bigger than our ninth, but our eleventh is now our biggest record!”
Searle knows that this type of career experience is not the same for all musicians or artists, but he is also keenly aware of the anxieties people often find themselves navigating through when faced with self-doubt and pressures around age and missed opportunities.
As he explains, “I say all this to maybe ease the anxieties of other people in the same situation, who may feel like they’ve missed their chance, it’s too late, or they’re too old — the reality is that it’s never too late.”
“We still feel as though there’s loads of gas in the tank. We still feel like we have another gear and we can push on, we can grow the band more and write an even better album. The band is still in really good health, in that respect.
“The biggest problem for bands is that when they get on in their years, they lose their hunger. It’s like with athletes: when you drop 5%, you fall down the rankings by a thousand places. If you lose a few points of your hunger, then it can really kill a band. As long as we have that hunger, I think we’re good.”
Architects’ Australian return means more for Searle than just bringing the new album to fans here for the first time.
The father of two did not tour with the band on their last Australian tour — the last time he was in the country was pre-pandemic, when things looked quite different for him at that time. Searle laughs while reflecting on a period in his life when he was seriously looking at making Australia his home.
“If you had told me when I was last there — January 2020, right before the pandemic — that I wouldn’t go back there for six years? I wouldn’t have believed it,” he says.
“At that moment in time, I was in Australia with my wife and my eldest daughter, who was a baby then, we were talking about moving to Australia. We were going through the visa process and everything. To go from potentially moving there, to then not going there at all for six years, is insane.”
Searle, as have the rest of the band, has maintained a strong relationship with Australia. Having been away for so long, this December tour is one that Searle is excited to get underway.
“In my 20s, it felt like I was in Australia once a year. At the start of my 30s, I went a couple of times. It seems unimaginable to me that six years have now gone by, it’s crazy,” he says.
“I did eleven years of going to Australia almost every year, touring with Australian bands, we have so many friends there. I haven’t seen them in such a long time. I can’t wait to play the shows but on a personal level, I can’t wait to come back.”
In this chapter of his life, balancing parenthood with his artistic life is one that Searle admits is difficult, but it’s a juggling act that Architects have been able to sustain as the members of the band grow into different personal areas of their lives.
“Creatively, it’s not such an issue. I have hours during the day where I’m not with the kids, I have time to focus on whatever I choose to work on,” he explains. “It’s funny, I actually find that I do my best work when I don’t have time! If I sit down and have six hours at the computer to write a song, usually I get nothing.
“The moment I’m away from the computer and I’m doing the dishes or walking to the shops, or picking the kids up from school, that’s when I have the idea — I then have to go home and quickly jot it down. I don’t mind that my creative time sometimes gets squeezed; it ends up being a good thing for the process, strangely.
“That part of it works out, but it can be tricky with touring. We generally scale the amount we do now to try and accommodate. It used to be constant. We could definitely tour more than we do, but it just is what it is.”
View this post on Instagram
While touring is an integral part of any band’s career and story, the rush of stepping back on stage after time away is something that never loses its edge.
“When we fall back into our normal domestic lives… I can only speak for myself, but there is a tendency to become a little detached,” he says. “I’m always working on music and playing drums, but I’m not in front of an audience. Then when we go on tour, it’s always a bit of a shock to see the amount of people who are engaged with what we do.”
“It’s nice, it doesn’t get old,” Searle smiles. “We’ve had the good fortune of generally trending upwards for the last nineteen years. Sometimes it’s been very slow, sometimes there have been bigger jumps. It always keeps things exciting, it feels like we’re always moving forward. It always leaves us feeling pretty good about what we’re doing.”
Architects 2025 Australian Tour
With special guests House of Protection & PRESIDENT
Presented by Live Nation
Ticket information available via livenation.com.au
All shows all ages
Thursday, December 11th
Festival Hall, Melbourne, VIC
Saturday, December 13th
Hordern Pavilion, Sydney, NSW
Sunday, December 14th
Riverstage, Brisbane, QLD
