Hollow indeed...that's the kind of feeling you'll get after listening to the latest platter of 'core from the UK's Architects, titled Hollow Ground. Though there's plenty of technical guitar lines, crushing breakdowns, slammin' drum work, and a mix of screams & clean melodic vocals, somehow it's hard not to feel like you've heard this all before, and better. Over the course of three albums, Architects have managed to create some solid material, and certainly Hollow Ground is sure to please those who have followed this band with their previous releases Ruins and Nightmares, but there's just not enough originality here to distance themselves from the hordes of other acts doing the same sort of metalcore style. Sure, a tune like "Dead March" features some nifty little pinch harmonics and guitar string scrapes (these guys after all do know how to create some fretboard acrobatics), and a nice balance of screams and catchy melodic vocals, but it's a formula used and abused here, and after it's all said and done, very few of the songs stand out much.
In the end, you'll have to be the judge as far as how much mileage Hollow Ground has. It's well produced, well played, melodic & technical metalcore, but for these ears it just seems to lack that something special to warrant going back to after a few spins.
Track Listing
1. Early Grave 3:32
2. Dethroned 3:06
3. Numbers Count For Nothing 3:50
4. Follow The Water 3:40
5. In Elegance 4:16
6. We're All Alone 3:01
7. Borrowed Time 2:30
8. Every Last Breath 3:28
9. One Of These Days 2:34
10. Dead March 3:47
11. Left With A Last Minute 2:57
12. Hollow Crown 4:24
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