Tom Searle died at around 00:12 on 20 August 2016 after living with cancer for more than three years. He was 28. His twin brother Dan announced the loss in Architects' original statement. Tom was the band's guitarist and songwriter, and Dan's closest and oldest friend.
Tom and Dan started playing music together at 13 and went on to co-found Architects. Tom became the band's primary songwriter, combining precise riffs and huge atmosphere with lyrics about fear, anger and uncertainty.
The Records We Keep Returning To
Lost Forever // Lost Together and All Our Gods Have Abandoned Us could be punishing and wide open at the same time. The technical playing served songs with real feeling behind them. You can still hear that balance across modern metalcore.
All Our Gods Have Abandoned Us
All Our Gods Have Abandoned Us came out in May 2016, only months before Tom died. Memento Mori closes it by confronting mortality, while Gone With the Wind puts vulnerability inside one of the band's most powerful arrangements. Knowing what Tom was facing adds weight, but the songs are powerful in their own right.
What came after
Architects continued after asking whether their music could still make Tom proud. Doomsday, released in 2017, began with material he'd written during the All Our Gods sessions and was finished by the band. Hearing his work carried forward mattered, even though nothing could make the loss easier.
The sharp rhythms, open atmosphere and emotional honesty Tom helped develop are still all over metalcore. Beyond that influence, these are records people turn to when grief or fear is hard to put into words.
Ten years on, Tom Searle is remembered through the people who loved him, the band he built and music that continues to find new listeners. He will not be forgotten.
