Bleghmatics (Redux)

3rd Quarter Analytics
2 min readSep 19, 2024

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“We only ever love you when you’re seeing red” is how Architects’ described their fan response to the new direction they had taken their sound with the 2021 album For Those Who Wish To Exist. Fan reception with this album was mixed with some enjoying the more “radio-friendly” sound or “octane-core” as some have described it, and with others wishing the continuation of the type of mathcore/metalcore that made them popular in the first place. Despite the mixed reaction from the fanbase, there was an undeniable factor of a popularity increase resulting from the album. The new fans came from a distinctly different demographic of people who enjoy a lot more melody within the music as well as generally less chaotic instrumentals and vocals. Between the two samples I used in my previous article two years ago, I thought it would be interesting to run the question again and see if there were any discernable differences in an Architects’ fan’s taste between now and then.

Two years ago, the favorite song of Architects’ fans was Gone With the Wind, and now two years later, their favorite song is Nihilist. I received around half of the responses this time around as I did in my first go around. With the smaller sample size, Nihilist prevailed with ~10% of respondents saying it was their favorite song of the band. The percentage of Gone With the Wind responses dropped from ~16% to ~8% this time around. A somewhat marginal difference in opinion, but does it mean the average taste has changed over the past few years? Or is it just anecdotal data that I am trying to have some fun with?

The favorite albums of the new survey group tend to enjoy the three album run from 2014–2018. Lost Together//Lost Forever (2014), All Our Gods Have Abandoned Us (2016), and Holy Hell (2018). 29 individuals stated Lost Together//Lost Forever is their favorite album, 40 said All Our Gods Have Abandoned Us is their favorite, and 35 said Holy Hell is their favorite. All three of these albums individually are more of the surveyed favorites than the rest of Architect’s albums combined. Only 24 of those surveyed had an album other than those 3 as their favorite.

So does this new survey data suggest anything new or fun? Not at all. Their most popular albums according to the survey are the most critically acclaimed. The disappointment with the last few albums also shows a bit with the lack of favorites. There is also something to be said about where I initially pulled the participants of the survey which is from the subreddits r/Metalcore and r/ArchitectsUK which are more of the dedicated fanbase rather than a casual listener on Sirius XM Octane Radio. As Architects’ continue to adapt their sound, I will continue to look back every few years to see if any changes occur.

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