I see you, Dracula, burning out in the cold sun

Continuing my trip forward in time through the album charts

07/03/25 : The Sky, The Earth & All Between - Architects

Somewhat unexpectedly, this is our third visit with Architects - I didn't like the first visit, but last time I found it surprisingly enjoyable, so let's see what we've got here, shall we?

Hmmm - I liked some bits of all the songs, but hated some bits of them all too. They're a combination of Muse-like rawk (good) and metalcore shouting (bad) - I can only assume that the last time they did less of the shouting. I can appreciate they're producing the sounds they want to make, they do it in an impressive manner and I'm happy if you like this, but I'm afraid I didn't - I do like the album cover though!

We're at #2 in the charts with a new entry this week and the rest of the top five are Sabrina (her fourth week at the top), The Lathums (another new entry), Sam Fender and Doves (another new entry) - and we've quite a few more new entries to consider this week as well (most of whom I've never heard of)

- The Lathums (#3)
Last time we met them I was reminded of The Housemartins - this time it's very much an Arctic Monkeys sound. I didn't love it, but it's done well enough.

- Doves (#5)
This was a bit grittier than I was expecting - I wouldn't say it's an immediate grabber, but if you like such things (which I do) it feels like it's worth further exploration.

- Bradley Simpson (#7)
Shame on me - how did I not recognise Bradley's name? He is, of course, the lead singer of The Vamps - and this is one of those pleasing solo projects which isn't just a rebadging of his main job. Don't get me wrong, it's not a million miles away from The Vamps, but it's kinda woozier - think Harry Styles vs One Direction. I actually didn't mind it at all.

- Lola Young (#16)
This is quite an decent album - lots of interesting sounds on it from one so young. She's best known for the John Lewis Xmas ad cover of "Together In Electric Dreams", but that's very much not the sound we've got here. I reckon it's certainly worth a listen.

- Lisa (#20)
Another name I didn't recognise that I might have - she's one of Blackpink. The whole K-pop thing kinda passes me by, but I'm sure this is fine if you like that sort of thing.

- Anthony Sziermek (#68)
This is odd one - stream of consciousness rap over dance music. It's got some great lyrics on it - I really quite enjoyed this.

We also have a weird re-entry to discuss - what on earth is Oasis's Standing On The Shoulder Of Giants doing at #11? Ah - the internet tells me it was released 25 years ago, so there must be a re-release involved.

Last week I said that Sam Fender would drop to #67 and it's quite funny how wrong I got that given he's at #4 - to make up for it, I'm tempted to guess #67 for Architects as well, but I actually suspect they're going to drop out of the chart entirely. And this week\s Taylor stats are one in the top forty and six in the entire chart.

Wikipedia tells us this is their eleventh album (they've been going since '04) and that's pretty much your lot on that front. The critics were very nice about it, particularly about the vocal performance - I agree it's impressive, even if I don't particularly like it. Commercially, I'm not in the slightest bit surprised it's done well in Germany (#3) and Switzerland (#9), but it's also gone down well in Australia (#8).

"Customers also listened to" Spiritbox, LANDMVRKS, Bury Tomorrow and Hollow Crown - I have a sneaking suspicion that I'm not going to like any of them either. They're giving their fans what they want though and it's nice to see something a bit different towards the top of the charts - but it's the British youngsters of Lola Young and Anthony Sziermek that produced the most interesting albums of the week for me, with Doves on the list to check out again (which will probably never happen).

14/03/25 - Pretty good actually
28/02/25 - Enjoyable

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