WITH US UNTIL YOU'RE DEAD

Trip-hop is one of the things I feel myself more far from, so I can't imagine why a band like Archive has managed to become a so good prog band from their debut. After having discovered their excellent "Controlling Crowds" thanks to a radio, I have grabbed this latest release and even with some inheritance of their electronic dance past it's another excellent album.

In my last review I have tried to give up to long track-by-track reviews, but this album is not a concept and each song has its story and characteristics so I want to look separately to each of them.

"Wiped Out" opens the dances with a keyboard layer and the soft voice of Pollard Berrier who can reach very high notes and fits very well in the song. He drives the crescendo which leads to the "floydian" part. What follows his voice is an electronic patchwork based on percussion reminding of Saucerful of secrest and which don't leave when Berrier restarts singing. An excellent start.

"Interlace" has an electronic opening. The first time I've heard "Bullets" I thought that there was something of Tangerine Dream in their music. This song confirms my impression. It starts like a sort of techno chill-out song but what makes it different from TD is the lack of "squared waves". If from a point of view it can be a song for a post-rave, it's not too different and surely not less good than the Spheres of the Orb with David Gilmour.

"Stick In My Heart" is a radio friendly track. Melodic, short and based on major chords like a Coldplay song (not as boring as a Coldplay song can be, don't get me wrong). If a single has been released I guess it's this one.

"Conflict" makes me think to Moby's debut. The drone drumming below, the modified voice and the hammering melody have something in common, but with the melody itself, the screams and the keyboard background could be on Wright's Broken China. The coda sounds classical, full of diminuished chords.

"Violently" is sung by Holly Martin. it's a dark electronic act on which the singer sounds blues. Effectively it's basically a blues infected by electronics.

"Calm Now" Is compliant with its title. Strings mainly, wuth the harping which may be a classic guitar, a harp or a keyboard. A very atmospheric instrumental. Few chords and no percussion. The first track reminding "Bullets" a bit.

It's followed by "Silent". This time it's not what the title say. Imaine the drums of Phil Collins' In the air tonight but with the nice vocals of Marie Q and strings in the second half. Another excellent song with some classical flavor.

"Twisting" is a blues sung on drone percussion, then distorted guitar and keyboards change the song's mood, but not the fact that it's a (good) blues, even when the vocals are more similar to the MUSE than to Muddy Waters.

Maria Q sings with a subtle voice a short melodic song."Things Going Down" makes me remember of Kate Havnevik, a Norwegian singer who made only one excellent album. If you like this song try her album "Melankton".

"Hatchet" is an electronic piece but it's essentially blues again. It's a very captivating song with an easy melody enhanced by the tempo on which by coincidence Holly Martin performs very well. In some moments she reminded me to Sinhead O'Connor.

"Damage" is a very particular song. For the first half it doesn't have persussion and the vocals are the most relevant element. In the second half it's a different song. Drone percussion as usual but very melodic and with the chorus based on major chords. Another highlight.

"Rise" is short and atmospheric. A slow melodic song, too slow to be radio-friendly with the keyboard layer so low that sounds like it's sung acapella.

What else to say? it's an excellent album and quite a sursprise. On their previous one I was astonished by "Bullets" and found the rest "good enough". This time the whole album is on a very good level even not reaching the heights of Bullets which remains my favourite Archive's track.

Archive took a few years off after releasing their concept "Controlling Crowds" albums. Their fans which are mostly European, were excited when the band finally announced this album in 2012, and they have been averaging an album a year since. This was a decent follow up to the previous concept albums, but this one doesn't follow any specific concept. The nice thing about it is the variation in the vocalists, you get quite a differentiation in the vocals, but a consistency in the bands signature electronic sound with the usual added organic sounds. They continue to combine progressive "Pink Floydean" textures, throwing some shoegaze and rave into the mix.

This time around there are two male and two female vocalists. They usually don't harmonize together like you would expect from another mostly electronic Pink Floyd inspired band called "Pure Reason Revolution", but many of their songs are very strong and emotional, while others are kind of flat on this album. Personally, for the most part, I love their slow and lush songs more than the upbeat ones, mainly because there not as repetitive.

The album starts out excellent with "Wiped Out" which builds to a very emotional climax with some amazing vocals, almost "Muse"-like, but better. Things sag a little at this point, and the hopes that were built up in the first track tend to lead to disappointment, that is until you get to "Conflict", which by the time it starts in with a percussion solo, gives a well needed pick me up to the album. This is one point where the faster song comes in at the right place. "Violently" is a little more progressive and is another highlight. "Calm Now" and "Silent" flow into each other and are two very beautiful songs lead by female vocalists and the string orchestra mixed with the electronics. "Twisting" is more upbeat and again shows off some great vocals and mood swings.

At this point the album starts to get mediocre and boring again. "Hatchet" has a good solid beat by the time it gets to the end of the song, but it takes way too long to get there that you almost don't care when it does take off. "Damage" is another one that sounds like it's going to build up to something, but when it finally arrives at the 3 minute mark, it isn't the payoff that you expect. It's not bad, it's just not as good as it was making itself out to be. By the end of this 7 minute song, everything sounds quite disjointed.

There are some nice harmonies on "Rise" but the melody just isn't interesting enough. "Aggravated Twisted Fill" was pretty good, but then the album ends with a weak effort with "Soul Tired".

I remember being really excited about this release the first time I heard it. But that excitement was short lived because the next time I listened, I just couldn't generate that same excitement, and now it just doesn't hold my interest all the way through it. There are a lot of high points, but the low points can weigh the entire album down too much. Before the release of the next album "Axiom", I thought the reason for the inconsistency of this album was because they needed to have a concept to give it more cohesiveness, but I soon learned that was not the case as "Axiom" was a concept album, but still missed the mark, and I was disappointed right away with that album. Things would get better, but this seemed to be a pattern with the band at this point, some great material, some mediocre and some just plain boring and repetitive. As far as this album, overall, the low points seem to outweigh the high points.