REVIEW: Architects, Of Mice & Men, While She Sleeps at Brooklyn Paramount | 05.07.2024

For the first time in nearly half a decade, British metalcore outfit Architects are hitting the road in North America. The band kicked off their tour late last week in Toronto and landed in New York City on Tuesday night for a packed performance at the Brooklyn Paramount. Joining them on this leg are metalcore greats Of Mice & Men and While She Sleeps; a stacked lineup from top to bottom.

"Who moshes at 6:45 on a Tuesday?" joked While She Sleeps' guitarist Mat Welsh to an enthusiastic Brooklyn crowd that was doing exactly that. These fans were not messing around; they eagerly fed off the energy that While She Sleeps so passionately displayed during their performance.

While She Sleeps’ new album, SELF HELL, came out about six weeks ago, and the band included the title track as well as “TO THE FLOWERS” on their setlist. As a whole, the setlist was focused on While She Sleeps’ newer material, with 2017’s You Are We being the furthest back they ventured. The fans welcomed every song with open arms, both literally and figuratively, as one crowd surfer another made their way towards the stage.

Of Mice & Men kept the heads banging and the crowds surfing. Opening with the ultra powerful and ultra popular single "Obsolete," the band got off on a heavy foot and set the energy bar high. Vocalist Aaron Pauley cut the song suddenly toward the end when he noticed someone down in the pit and alerted the staff over the mic. The band then waited patiently while the fan was attended to and once all was good, Pauley thanked everyone and the band got right back to business by launching into "Castaway." True professionals, the lot of them.

Of Mice & Men are on a relatively fresh album cycle of their own as their album Tether was released late last year. "Castaway" is the second single released from the album and was the only new song to appear on the setlist. The remainder of the set was a mix of recent and old school songs with a particular focus on their 2014 album Restoring Force.

The removal of a black curtain during the set changeover gave way to a second level platform and an additional row of LED screens, the upsizing in production eliciting a roar of approval from the crowd. Architects were about to up the ante.

The band opened with "Seeing Red," one of two new singles Architects has released from a yet-to-be-announced new album ("Curse", the other single, made an appearance later in the set). "What a fucking vibe!" frontman Sam Carter exclaimed a few songs in; the show, he noted, was quite possibly one of the best the band had ever played in the United States. Carter credited the energy from the crowd as being the driving force behind that fact.

Architect's set was heavy on their 2021 album, For Those That Wish To Exist with touches of the album's followup, the classic symptoms of a broken spirit, as well as Holy Hell and Daybreaker. The band's North American tour continues through the end of this week and will resume with a second in leg in late September.

THE PIT REPORT

• While She Sleeps' lighting was a challenge; hard blue and magenta colors forced me to pass on some of my shots that were otherwise solid solely because the effort to color correct them would be too time consuming
  • I ended up leaning back into black-and-white as it was able to save a few of the shots
• Of Mice & Men's lighting was a considerable improvement from a photo perspective, the first song in particular offering consistent light that was bright and clean.
• Architects reliance on the LED screens directly behind them poses a challenge at times due to the tendency for the shots to be overly backlit, but there is often adequate front light to compensate
• For me the biggest challenge overall was working with the color while editing in Lightroom. In a lot of these edits the colors don't feel right and try as I may I cannot seem to figure out how to improve beyond what I've settled upon.
  • As challenging as the edits may be, I'm welcoming these scenarios; it's the only way to develop new approaches and strategies. I didn't nail the color on these by any means but I am seeing some general personal improvement which is always motivating.

WHILE SHE SLEEPS

OF MICE & MEN

ARCHITECTS