After Eclipse |The Archivist |Independent

After Eclipse is a progressive metalcore band from Denver, Colorado, formed in 2023. The band released its debut EP "To Climb" in 2024, then spent the next two and a half years gigging on the live circuit while writing its first full length album. "The Archivist" is that album, an independent concept release that follows a man condemned to immortality and every trial that comes with it.

Nine tracks in just fewer than forty minutes tell the story of a man who cannot die, spilling across centuries and dimensions. The sound is modern djent to the core, with low tuned guitars stacked in layers and a bass rumbling under every chug, while the drummer jumps from odd meter stabs to blast bursts on "Sojourner" without missing a hit.

The acoustic and symphonic layers do real work, and the strings swelling under the breakdown of "Celeste: Incursion" turn the story widescreen. The vocals swing from soothing melodies to throat shredding screams in a heartbeat, and "Desperate Or Dead" lives on that swing, an arena chorus smashed into a grinding riff.

The trouble is the template. Too many tracks run the same route of ambient build, polyrhythmic chug, soaring hook and breakdown, and the formula shows its seams long before "Divinization" closes the tale. The lyrics hide behind stock pain and eternity imagery and rarely dig into the horror of outliving everything. The singing also sits a notch too far forward, flattening the guitars whenever the choruses open up. The sequencing binds the tale into one arc, and as a debut "The Archivist" aims high and connects more often than it misses.

|7.0