ARCHSPIRE kick off European tour with BENIGHTED

ARCHSPIRE kick off European tour
with BENIGHTED
Archspire-logo-black
Canadian Tech Death outfit ARCHSPIRE are about to kick off their European tour dates together with BENIGHTED, PSYCROPTIC and ENTHEOS. The ‘European Tech Trek’ will be blasting through 16 countries at 350 bpm starting tomorrow March 3! A full list of confirmed shows can be viewed below.

ARCHSPIRE comment on the tour: “What do you get when you combine an Italian, a wannabe rapper, a human drum machine, a music school nerd, and the whitest man you’ve ever seen in your life? AN ARCHSPIRE EUROPEAN TOUR!!!

It has been over THREE YEARS since we’ve been to Europe, which is absolutely insane, and we’re so pumped to bring this ridiculous package across the Atlantic for another instalment of “”Tech Trek Europe.”” We’ll be playing plenty of songs from our latest release ‘Bleed the Future,’ and we’ll be joined by the incredible Psycroptic, the disgusting Benighted, and the very fun Entheos!

This is going to be a party every single night, and just like our music, the tickets will be going VERY FAST!”

BENIGHTED comment: “Such a brutal line-up for this amazing European tour with Archspire, Psycroptic and Entheos!! We couldn’t be happier, every night will be such a blast! You’re not ready, guys!

ARCHSPIRE
+Benighted +Psycroptic +Entheos
03 Mar 23 Essen (DE) Turock
04 Mar 23 Doornroosje (NL) Nijmegen (SOLD OUT)
05 Mar 23 Brussels (BE) Botanique
06 Mar 23 Bristol (UK) The Fleece
07 Mar 23 Glasgow (UK) Cathouse
08 Mar 23 Nottingham (UK) Rescue Rooms
09 Mar 23 Dublin (IE) Whelans
10 Mar 23 Manchester (UK) Rebellion
11 Mar 23 London (UK) The Dome (SOLD OUT)
12 Mar 23 Paris (FR) La Machine du Moulin Rouge
13 Mar 23 Lyon (FR) CCO
15 Mar 23 Madrid (ES) Nazca
16 Mar 23 Barcelona (ES) Bóveda
17 Mar 23 Montpellier (FR) Secret Place
18 Mar 23 Aarau (CH) Kiff
19 Mar 23 Milan (IT) Legend Club
20 Mar 23 München (DE) Backstage
21 Mar 23 Vienna (AT) Arena (SOLD OUT)
22 Mar 23 Kosice (SK) Collosseum
23 Mar 23 Budapest (HU) Analóg Music Hall
24 Mar 23 Prague (CZ) Futurum
25 Mar 23 Warsaw (PL) Hydrozagadka
26 Mar 23 Berlin (DE) SO36
28 Mar 23 Gothenburg (SE) Brewhouse
29 Mar 23 Stockholm (SE) Slaktkyrkan
30 Mar 23 Fredericia (DK) Eksercerhuset
31 Mar 23 Hannover (DE) Faust
The band will be playing in support of their latest album ‘Bleed the Future’, which was released on October 29, 2021 and can still be heard in full HERE. The artwork, which has been created by Eliran Kantor, can be viewed together with further album details below.
Coverartwork-Archspire
Track-list
1. Drone Corpse Aviator (3:46) (WATCH)
2. Golden Mouth of Ruin (4:05) (WATCH)
3. Abandon the Linear (4:36)
4. Bleed the Future (3:48) (WATCH)
5. Drain of Incarnation (4:20)
6. Acrid Canon (4:09)
7. Reverie on the Onyx (3:47)
8. A.U.M. (3:04)
Total: 31:35
Archspire-bandpicture
Archspire’s 2017 Relentless Mutation was a cavalcade of speed and extremity — blasting, accelerating and, in partial reference to its title, “mutating” as each song unfolded, all the while rapid-fire, shotgun vocals blurred the lines between a man’s throat and additional instrument. It was, unquestionably, an innovation of sound and technique — Archspire had broken the speed barrier while creating songs memorable as they were unabashedly extreme for extreme metal. Thus, the pressure was already there to top Relentless Mutation when the band started to compile new songs in 2018. The global pandemic heightened the situation (read: no touring, expanded free time) and caused Archspire to turn inward and apply additional rigor to their songwriting process, albeit painstakingly so. But by the end of the fraught calendar year that was 2020, the band emerged with their fourth studio album, Bleed the Future.

According to the members of Archspire — vocalist Oli Aleron, guitarists Dean Lamb and Tobi Morelli, bassist Jared Smith and drummer Spencer Prewett — they originally went into the making of Bleed the Future under the idea they would finish the album in between the various tours scheduled for 2020. Of course, none of that happened, prompting the band to do more pre-production than at any time in their career. Archspire then subjected the album’s eight songs to near-constant critiquing that ensured they came away with a product, that in their estimation, is their best to date.

“The benefit we had was that Relentless came out in 2017,” says Lamb. “Since then, we toured more than we ever did before. We had the viewpoint of ‘What do crowds like? What parts should we write more of? What parts do people give us good feedback on?’ We wanted to expand and write those parts more consistently — there are more hooks and when we do have hooks, we wanted to repeat those parts so people will know that this is the catchy part of the song.”

“The most important thing was that we had clever songwriting,” adds Prewett. “We wanted the album to be more accessible to more people but still keep it extreme, fast and technical. So, we changed our process this time. We recorded rehearsal every day and listened to what we did afterward. We’d then come back to the jam spot and change riffs and ideas based on what everyone was thinking about during the week. It resulted in an album that everyone was happier with.”

Archspire also had the stated goal for Bleed the Future that they wanted to get faster. While such a feat may defy reason given their previous output, the band wrote their fastest song to date — the album-closing “AUM,” a cut that opens up with an audio recording of a German friend of Prewett’s who, according to the drummer, enjoys ragging on Archspire. Comedic clips aside, “AUM,” caps off an album that pushes the boundaries of speed but also is textured — Smith’s ethereal basslines often serve as mid-song interludes, while Lamb and Morelli weave melodic, spiraling guitar lines that annihilate the fretboard during “Abandon the Linear,” “Bleed the Future” and “Acrid Canon.” Accordingly, the members of Archspire were keenly aware of the expectations placed upon them after the success of Relentless Mutation. The online comments regarding whether they could top Relentless Mutation was also occasionally on their minds when composing Bleed the Future and prompted the band to ensure that all five members were happy with everything — down to the last riff, vocal line, bass run and drum pattern. “Audience expectation is really important,” says Lamb. “If we leave the jam spot and everyone is stoked on a song, it’s pretty likely that the audience will be stoked. We have the expectation of the audience, but we also have to be pumped on the music. I feel the proudest of the music. We spent more time on the songs and got better at writing. I feel it’s better music.”

“It’s an extremely tedious writing process,” adds Smith. “If anyone isn’t feeling a riff, we scrap it and have to find something we’re all happy with. It can be super-frustrating in the moment, but in the end, we have something better. We want everything we write to be a step up and I think we achieved that with Bleed the Future.”

The album is accompanied by a concept developed by Aleron that begs the question: What happens when humans start giving birth to non-humans? Born from a weird dream the vocalist had, Bleed the Future’s concept does not have finality or a conclusion. It does, however, posit a few ethical dilemmas to ties into Archspire’s long-running science fiction themes.

“I thought about what if those things they were giving birth to could actually benefit them in the future so they wouldn’t want to reject them,” says Aleron. “What would happen to the humans that weren’t born? Would they go to a different dimension? I played with that whole idea because I hadn’t seen a horror movie where that was the theme. It worked for all the songs. The only social commentary is that people don’t know what they’re giving birth to — if you put someone on this planet, you don’t know whether they’re going to be good or evil.”

Bleed the Future was recorded in October and November 2020 at Flatline Audio in Colorado with producer/engineer Dave Otero. This was the second consecutive album the band worked with Otero. According to Morelli, the recording process was seamless. “Dave was already familiar with what we each can do individually,” he says. “This time, he was more prepared to tackle those elements. How he tracks was more focused on what we were capable of and I think it really shows here.”

As live show activity for 2021 hangs in the balance (Archspire currently has dates lined up for November), the pandemic has prompted many bands to re-think their new album release dates as well as how to stay visible in a world currently without touring. But, with a fanbase that has embraced the band’s online presence that includes playthroughs, tutorials and now, cooking shows (!), Archspire heads into the Bleed the Future album cycle the benefactors of their commitment to touring and, most of all, position as one of death metal’s most forward-thinking bands.

“We have a lot of awesome fans, so I think they’ll be there to support us and pick up the album because they like the music,” says Lamb. “We’re a self-managed band; we’ve been working with the same label for ten years and I think the outcome will be good. Would it had been better if we had been on a full North American tour starting a week before the album release? Sure, but I think people will come out and support us through other means. As soon as we’re ready to go back on tour and everybody is safe to do so, we’ll be out there.”

Style: Extreme Technical Death Metal
FFO: Beyond Creation, Necrophagist, The Faceless

Links:
www.archspire.bandcamp.com
www.facebook.com/Archspireband
www.twitter.com/Archspireband
www.instagram.com/archspireofficial
www.youtube.com/user/Archspiremetal

Lineup:
Oliver Rae Aleron: vocals
Spencer Prewett: drums
Dean Lamb: guitars
Tobi Morelli: guitars
Jared Smith: bass

Recording Studio: Flatline Audio (Denver, CO, USA)
Producer/mixing/mastering/engineer: Dave Otero

Cover art: Eliran Kantor
Bio: David E. Gehlke

Shop: https://redirect.season-of-mist.com/ArchspireBleed

Album formats:
CD Digipak
LTD Box SOLD OUT
12” Gatefold vinyl (Black)
Cassette SOLD OUT
12” Gatefold vinyl (Gold / 450 copies) SOLD OUT
12” Gatefold vinyl (Crystal Clear & Black Marbled / 350 copies) SOLD OUT
12” Gatefold vinyl (Crystal Yellow & Black Marbled / 250 copies) SOLD OUT
12” Gatefold vinyl (Red, White & Black Marbled / 200 copies) SOLD OUT
12” Gatefold vinyl (Silver & Black Marbled / 200 copies) SOLD OUT