aaamusic | On 31, Aug 2010

Leading up to the release of their first release on UK shores in the form of Controlling Crowds Parts I-IV, Archive are giving away ‘Pills’ from Part IV for free.

Archive’s rise in Europe has been nothing short of monumental. Now, with ‘Controlling Crowds’, the band finally make their first excursion onto their homeland of the UK. Already established European festival headliners (and colossally popular in France, Poland, Germany and Greece), ‘Controlling Crowds’ has already reached number one in the album charts of France and Greece, as well as number two in Switzerland, with festival headline spots above the likes of Kasabian and N*E*R*D and support slots with Muse confirming the band’s colossal status. And with this release, the band are more excited than ever, bringing all that they have sewn home.

‘Controlling Crowds’ will be released for the first time in the UK and US on 20th September 2010.  The album’s theme is simplistic given the title; the sensation of controlling crowds and the overwhelming desire of human beings to control everything, to consume everything way beyond their needs and mark the stages of a wild journey in a world where man has never achieved such a degree of freedom but also never been so subtly manipulated.

You could be forgiven for thinking that Archive came barreling out of the former Soviet Union; their dense, intense music owing as much to the monumental composers of the Eastern Bloc as it does to Western rock bands. Their melancholic blend of electronics and hard hitting, guitar anthems will undoubtedly blend into the UK’s musical consciousness, befitting names like Nine Inch Nails, 65daysofstatic and modern-day The Cure.