Search - Architect :: All Is Not Lost

Not great, not bad either...

Daniel Fitzgerald | Santa Cruz, CA USA | 03/17/2007

(3 out of 5 stars)

"This is a pleasant change from the same-ol' same-ol'. But it is no way revolutionary, or as good as the obvious influences (latter Converge, Burnt By The Sun, Swarm of the Lotus, etc). The sound is a little too raw and lo-fi. The initial heavy appeal becomes droning pretty quickly as their is almost not variation from start to finish. However, the sincerity is proven which is a rare find. Its also great to see a hardcore album with blatently left-wing political motives. 80s hardcore was so pissed about Reaganomics, that the bands had great lyrical fire. Somewhere along the lines, everyone got all right-wing conservative. With the current administration, I don't know why more bands aren't looking back to the lyrics of the bands that influenced them. So although this album isn't going to make it to my top rotation, I appreciate a lot of elements in this effort. The worst part is the electronic interludes, which is almost impossible to not find as useless filler on contemporary releases."