Irish band Archaós fuses a full-on metal assault with catchy hooks in an intoxicating groove meets melodic metal sound that they describe as “energetic, aggressive and pretty.”
The Cork quintet was first formed back in 2016 when Luke Butler and Alessio Bagatin (guitars and vocals), Aaron Kennedy (bass) and Chris Hanlon (drums) were college classmates on the Music, Management & Sound course at CSN in Cork. They began writing original material, combining poppy hooks with elements of alternative metal and progressive rock, and gaining plaudits for their high-energy performances on the local live music scene. They released a self-titled EP in 2017 and a follow-up, Liberation, two years later, before ticking off a milestone by opening the main stage at Siege of Limerick in October 2019.
However, Archaós went on a hiatus after the pandemic, only returning last December for a fundraiser show. That was followed by adding a new element to the band as Ciara Sheehan joined on lead vocals, ahead of releasing their comeback single earlier this month, which has seen them return, in their words, “rejuvenated and ready to make our mark on the local Irish Metal scene and beyond.”
And on the sound they’ve crafted over the years, Luke told us: “We’re essentially a groove/melodic-based metal band. We’ve been compared to the likes of Deftones with elements of Gojira and Tool sprinkled in our sound. We’re not afraid to get aggressive, but we also love a classic pop hook and try to incorporate that where we can. We fuse a lot of styles together, so alternative metal might be the best category of genre to put us in if you absolutely had to place us in a box musically.”
Our latest taste of this is the aforementioned return single Tartarus, which sees the band return with a bang as all three vocalists share the limelight. It opens up with a chunky guitar riff that continues alongside piercing synth sounds and vicious screamed vocals. The chunky guitars develop as Ciara’s clean vocals support heavier vocals, before all three vocalists chip in while building up to Ciara leading a big singalong chorus “All consumed, born to lose, This typhoon, ties the noose, A false mother, forms another prison to close my eyes, To the fruit and scorn the truth.”
A little whisper of “I’m alive” rounds off the chorus before another blitz of relentless guitars and vicious screams answered by cleans, flowing into another chorus. The pace slows a little with a methodical guitar note building up to heavy stabs of guitar and slow vocals, teeing up a vicious conclusion of intense screams and guitars.
On the track, Luke said: “The reception in our local music scene has been great! After returning from a five-year break, people are quite impressed with the quality of the new music. For people who haven’t listened to the track, Tartarus is a hard-hitting track that fuses together many musical vibes and styles. The tracks stands out for having three lead vocalists that weave in and out in various sections. It’s a track we are very proud of as a band.”
The Archaós sound draws on a wide range of musical interests, from Luke’s love of Tool, Feeder, Nirvana and Biffy Clyro to the other band members’ shared love for Gojira, Mastodon, Avenged Sevenfold, A Day To Remember and many more.
And on what inspires them to write music, Luke explained: “Everyday life inspires me to write music. As a process, it can be very cathartic, and songwriting/playing music is such a great outlet for emotion. As the lyricist for the band, personal hardships often inspire the songs I write. Tartarus is based on my struggle with health anxiety or anxiety in general. Living with anxiety can often feel like living in a prison that’s inside your own mind and the idea of Tartarus, which is the lowest level of the underworld in Greek mythology, is used as a metaphor for this experience. At the end of the song, I make a conscious decision to not let the anxiety control my life, and to push through it and achieve my goals. It’s a triumphant conclusion.”
Archaós will be releasing another single before the end of the year, but they’re keeping the release date close to their chest for now. They’ll also be playing at Fred Zeppelins in Cork on 10 October, at a gig supporting Dublin band’s new EP alongside Unmaker, and tickets are available here.
And Luke added: “Archaós is a passion project for the majority of the band members. We all have other musical projects and commitments that take up a lot of our focus, such as Outsound, Tide7 and Following The Signs. We love this band and we will continue to make music when we can, so don’t be too concerned if you have to wait a while.”
You can follow Archaós on Facebook and Instagram, and check out their music on Spotify, Bandcamp, Apple Music and YouTube.
Listen to Archaós and more new metal bands on our Spotify playlists GigRadar Core and GigRadar Metal
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