Former Architects Guitarist Josh Middleton on Leaving the Band: “The Partnership Ran Its Course”

In May, guitarist Josh Middleton announced that he was parting with UK metalcore giants Architects, who he had been playing with since 2017 following the death of Architects’ then-guitarist Tom Searle. At the time, the band issued the following statement and encouraged fans to pay attention to Middleton’s other, main band, Sylosis:

“It is with a heavy heart that we announce Josh’s time in the band has come to an end. It has gradually become apparent that we need to go our separate ways, but we remain close friends.

“Josh was a life raft for the band after we lost Tom and he gave us a way to keep the band alive through the hardest experience or our lives. We will always be grateful to him for that.

“We wish him the best in his future endeavours and we suggest that everyone keeps an eye out for the new Sylosis record later this year.”

Speaking to Guitar.com for a new interview, he opens up about the split and confirms that it was, indeed, very amicable.

“We were on different pages musically – that’s the best way to put it. For the most part, I listen to really, really heavy music all the time. Obviously, I was getting excited about the next Sylosis record, because it’s quite heavy, and I guess it’s just a different direction.”

“I don’t know what Architects’ plans are. They may do something even heavier than before. They might not. I guess you could say the partnership ran its course, but we’re still friends and there’s no drama. I literally spoke to Sam [Carter, singer] earlier, just sending him memes.”

As for his plans with Sylosis? Release new album A Sign of Things to Come and bring extreme music into the mainstream.

“There are a lot of metal bands I like, but a lot of it feels underground, spread out and sparse. Lamb of God were the last ‘metal metal’ band to truly get big. There’s a huge gap in the metal world for something like A Sign of Things to Come. I want to fill that gap.”