Archspire - Carrion Ladder - Single Review

00:00:00.080 What's going on? Welcome back to STR.
00:00:02.159 It's 2026. Uh we've had a little break,
00:00:04.799 but we're back. And today we're going to
00:00:06.240 talk about the latest single from
00:00:07.440 Archspire. It is called Carryan Ladder.
00:00:10.480 It is extreme and it's awesome. Let's
00:00:12.320 get into it.
00:00:17.680 What's happening, man? Happy New Year,
00:00:19.119 Derek. Happy New Year to you. Hope uh
00:00:21.199 you are recharged and fully flushed. You
00:00:24.160 were feeling sick the other day, so you
00:00:25.519 had ample diarrhea. You are feeling so
00:00:28.880 much better.
00:00:30.080 to start the new year. And
00:00:31.519 >> I'm back to I'm back to 100%.
00:00:33.760 >> Yeah, you you look suave. You look you
00:00:35.760 look swvelt.
00:00:36.640 >> Well, you know, these things happen and
00:00:38.559 you lose a lot of water weight.
00:00:40.160 >> Well, good. Yeah, I took the time to
00:00:42.480 rejigger my uh temporary home and as you
00:00:45.920 can see, you know, it looks
00:00:47.760 >> mixed it up a little bit.
00:00:49.360 >> Well, a little more vast. Um but yeah,
00:00:52.079 it's uh it's not chaotic in here anymore
00:00:54.640 like uh the song we're about to talk
00:00:56.480 about.
00:00:56.879 >> Oh man. Yeah, this song Archspire uh for
00:00:59.680 the uninitiated is a they build
00:01:02.480 themselves as extreme. I don't like the
00:01:05.119 name extreme music. I I don't know why,
00:01:07.600 but they build themselves as an extreme
00:01:09.760 metal band. And my god, do they fit the
00:01:11.680 bill. These guys are an intense uh
00:01:14.240 progressive metal. I don't there are
00:01:16.960 there's a laundry list of descriptives
00:01:18.960 that can be used for this band. super
00:01:20.960 fast, super technical, super heavy, and
00:01:23.680 they they have some switches in there
00:01:25.360 that are really surprising, and I've
00:01:27.520 always dug it. What are your thoughts on
00:01:29.680 Archspire as a band? A technical death
00:01:32.159 metal. Uh they're from Vancouver,
00:01:34.000 British Columbia. They did raise nearly
00:01:36.960 $400,000.
00:01:39.200 >> They did
00:01:39.680 >> put this record out. Curious if a record
00:01:42.159 label did not want to sign them because
00:01:44.400 they average around 300 beats per
00:01:46.560 minute. Very, very, very fast. I did not
00:01:49.360 love it. I found the vocal patterns to
00:01:52.399 be just obnoxious.
00:02:04.719 Even the first few seconds were just
00:02:06.960 obnoxious. And this is coming from a guy
00:02:09.280 that loves death metal. I love thrash. I
00:02:12.800 love fast music. But for me, all of it
00:02:16.239 did not work. It's just chaos for the
00:02:18.480 sake of chaos, you literally, if you
00:02:21.040 wanted to actually wonder what a pig
00:02:23.680 strung out on cocaine would sound like,
00:02:25.920 Carryan Ladder is for you.
00:02:27.440 >> Yeah, it's a it is a I I do like it.
00:02:30.319 I've been uh a a low-grade fan of Arch
00:02:34.160 Spire for a while. I think I got into
00:02:35.920 them. I watched Dean Lamb, one of the
00:02:38.319 guitar players. He and I believe it's
00:02:40.080 his wife have a uh have a longunning
00:02:42.319 vlog, podcast, whatever you want to call
00:02:44.800 it, and he's he's a pretty astonishing
00:02:46.879 guitar player. So, I've kind of followed
00:02:48.640 him for a while. And this band is pretty
00:02:51.280 wild. But you're right, Ali Peter's
00:02:53.760 vocals are very unique in the death
00:02:57.440 metal, tech death, you know, whatever
00:03:00.080 genre. You know, he's sort of been
00:03:02.480 compared to, you know, Eminem in terms
00:03:05.040 of his fast rap style vocals. And yeah,
00:03:09.040 they're very, very different. They are
00:03:10.959 nontraditional metal vocals to be sure.
00:03:13.680 >> I think that Dean and I believe it's
00:03:15.440 Toby Morelli, keep me honest on that.
00:03:18.159 >> Yep.
00:03:19.440 >> They're great. I love their guitar work.
00:03:22.319 The problem is is that the vocals and
00:03:24.480 the just having to be fast doesn't allow
00:03:28.000 them to actually show off. And I think
00:03:30.480 that they're probably turning off 80% of
00:03:33.360 the metal community because they have to
00:03:35.680 be fast. And with an album that's coming
00:03:38.159 out called Too Fast to Die, it's
00:03:40.319 scheduled to release in April. too fast
00:03:43.519 to die. It's like, okay, we have to
00:03:45.120 write a really fast record and we have
00:03:47.120 to do all the things that those who
00:03:50.319 contributed to the crowdsource want to
00:03:52.239 hear, but that might be the only people
00:03:53.920 that actually buy this thing. I
00:03:55.680 personally am not remotely interested in
00:03:57.680 the full length unless they actually let
00:03:59.920 the band actually write music that has
00:04:02.480 tempo changes, slows down, maybe, you
00:04:05.519 know, allows Ali to sing a little bit or
00:04:08.959 do different kinds of vocal patterns.
00:04:11.360 But I found myself bored about a minute
00:04:13.599 into the record or into the song and
00:04:16.079 it's 4 minutes long.
00:04:17.519 >> Yeah, I it'll be interesting to see what
00:04:19.199 what's on the rest of the the rest of
00:04:21.040 the album. Uh they in their earlier
00:04:23.520 stuff, they do have tempo changes.
00:04:25.600 Things do move around a little bit.
00:04:27.120 There's some dare I say classical style
00:04:29.680 breaks where you get to hear the
00:04:31.759 musicality of the band. Drone Corpse
00:04:34.160 Aviator is one that comes to mind. Great
00:04:36.479 song names from this band, too, by the
00:04:38.560 way.
00:04:39.280 >> Yeah. Yeah. I went back and looked.
00:04:41.040 Well, go ahead. Go ahead.
00:04:42.000 >> No, I went back and looked and and I
00:04:43.680 listened and I did hear the tempo
00:04:45.199 changes. I really hope that they stay
00:04:48.160 true to their past work and too fast to
00:04:51.360 die is not just carrying ladder one
00:04:54.400 after another after another because
00:04:56.639 again, I love blistering speed. I love
00:04:58.800 thrash. I love um you know, technical
00:05:01.600 metal, but this is just too much of
00:05:03.840 everything and just gore guts. And you
00:05:06.400 know, horror movies are good because
00:05:08.000 there's parts where there's gore, right?
00:05:10.639 But and there's a buildup to it, but
00:05:12.880 this is just pure gore and and just
00:05:15.120 annihilation from start to finish for 4
00:05:17.759 minutes. And it's kind of left me going,
00:05:20.320 it's a butcher. It's just one big giant
00:05:22.639 butcher. I I don't necessarily agree
00:05:25.440 with that, which is of course fine
00:05:27.600 because I'm right and you're wrong. But
00:05:29.600 we'll move on. Ouch. Population, bro.
00:05:33.039 You said that
00:05:33.759 >> as always,
00:05:35.840 >> somebody's got to be right, Derek. Am I
00:05:37.680 Am I wrong?
00:05:38.639 >> I guess. I mean, we live in a world
00:05:40.160 where social media finds people that
00:05:42.080 agree with them and then they just sit
00:05:43.680 in an echo chamber and yell at each
00:05:46.000 other about how right they are. So, you
00:05:47.600 can yell at me all you want. You'll have
00:05:49.680 your group of people that love Archspire
00:05:51.680 and then all my group of people that
00:05:53.280 hate them and we'll just yell at each
00:05:54.960 other about how bad they are and you can
00:05:56.639 yell at your guys about how good they
00:05:58.560 are and then you and I will fight on
00:06:00.320 here about how wrong you are. And that's
00:06:02.160 where the love is. That's where our love
00:06:03.680 lies, Derek, is in the in the heat of
00:06:05.360 battle. But you brought up a good point
00:06:06.880 earlier as to why they they chose to
00:06:08.960 crowds or crowdfund this album. The only
00:06:11.600 thing that I read about it was that they
00:06:14.720 wanted to go that route so they could
00:06:16.400 have complete 100% control. And we know
00:06:19.360 that labels when they're going to put
00:06:21.199 their money behind a project, they often
00:06:23.440 want to have some say. And who knows,
00:06:25.759 maybe that is the exact reason why the
00:06:27.680 band went another route because they
00:06:29.600 didn't, you know, they weren't working
00:06:30.880 with a label that agreed with their
00:06:32.560 choices. I don't know. Uh maybe that
00:06:35.120 news will come out later. But uh I am I
00:06:37.919 am looking forward to the rest of the
00:06:39.520 record. Their Spotify description that
00:06:42.240 they posted says the band continues to
00:06:44.479 push the limits of speed and virtuosity
00:06:46.720 while somehow keeping a sharp focus on
00:06:48.479 hooks. Their music, this is what I love,
00:06:50.560 their music sits on a knife edge of
00:06:52.479 quote too much. And just when you think
00:06:54.560 you've hit overload, they drop in a
00:06:56.400 soaring melody or a meticulously crafted
00:06:58.639 clean section long enough for you to
00:07:00.560 breathe before throwing you back into a
00:07:02.800 rap flow vocal assault or some of the
00:07:05.199 fastest drumming you'll ever hear. I
00:07:06.960 think that's pretty damn accurate.
00:07:08.319 >> Dead on. Yeah. Uh don't love it, but I'm
00:07:11.199 glad you like it and glad you brought it
00:07:13.440 to the table because I'm sure that
00:07:15.199 there'll be a number of folks that
00:07:16.800 follow our podcast that will dig it and
00:07:19.039 be into it and that's what we're here to
00:07:20.800 do.
00:07:21.599 >> Yeah, exactly. the rest of the band.
00:07:23.360 Olly Peters on vocals, Dean Lamb and
00:07:25.759 Toby Morelli on guitar, Jared Smith on
00:07:28.319 bass, and Spencer Moore on drums. He
00:07:30.240 just joined last year, replacing Spencer
00:07:33.120 Puit, uh, who'd been with the band for
00:07:34.800 the previous 15 years. And Spencer
00:07:37.039 Moore, for the drummers out there,
00:07:39.280 especially, you know, heavy fast
00:07:41.120 drummers, this guy is is top topnotch.
00:07:44.000 He's incredible. I just watched some of
00:07:46.000 his playthroughs over the past week or
00:07:47.680 so, and he's one of these guys that just
00:07:50.080 I don't want to say he's he's perfect,
00:07:51.520 but he's metronomic with his speed and
00:07:54.000 precision. And it's amazing because he
00:07:56.639 looks pretty effortless. It looks pretty
00:07:58.800 effortless when he's ripping through
00:08:00.639 these parts. And as a guy who spent some
00:08:02.960 time behind a behind a kit and now in
00:08:04.960 front of a kit, uh yeah, I'm always
00:08:07.280 impressed by by top level talent. And
00:08:10.000 all all the guys in this band are are
00:08:11.840 super super talented.
00:08:13.199 >> Yeah, absolutely. No doubt you you don't
00:08:15.440 write music this fast if you suck. I was
00:08:18.240 watching the Bruins just crush the
00:08:20.000 Rangers and put up nine goals and I was
00:08:22.319 listening to them and it was it actually
00:08:23.680 the music fit the the beatdown that the
00:08:26.560 Bruins put on the Rangers. But, you
00:08:28.560 know, yeah, unbelievably fast,
00:08:31.280 unbelievably precise. Again, I just
00:08:34.159 would like to see the structure of the
00:08:36.559 songs to be a little bit more dynamic. I
00:08:39.279 that's my personal taste. That doesn't
00:08:41.279 make me right. Doesn't make me wrong. It
00:08:43.440 just is my personal preference.
00:08:45.279 >> Yeah. Yeah, you're right, too. I think
00:08:47.120 this this song comes in around 360 beats
00:08:50.240 a minute, which is really damn fast.
00:08:53.440 That is really cooking. But cool. Always
00:08:56.320 good to talk about it. The last thing I
00:08:58.080 wanted to mention before we hop off this
00:08:59.680 call is as we enter into 2026 to to the
00:09:03.839 three folks who hear our hear this
00:09:06.160 episode, I would ask that we all as
00:09:09.680 humans try and and work hard at being
00:09:12.720 reasonable this year on all fronts,
00:09:15.600 whatever it is we're doing. My wife and
00:09:17.360 I had an experience earlier today. We we
00:09:19.600 went out to a restaurant and and Derek,
00:09:22.399 by all means, stop me if if if I go
00:09:24.560 long-winded on this. We went out to a
00:09:26.320 restaurant earlier today and we're
00:09:27.440 sitting there, fine place, nice place,
00:09:29.200 artisan pizza place. And when we got
00:09:31.839 there, there was uh there were a couple
00:09:33.360 of gentlemen sitting at the bar. One guy
00:09:35.360 sitting at the bar and a person, older
00:09:38.959 gentleman in a wheelchair with some
00:09:41.360 pretty significant disabilities. I don't
00:09:43.760 know exactly what the maladies were.
00:09:45.920 Appeared to to to require quite a bit of
00:09:47.839 of care and assistance. And they were
00:09:50.720 chatting. Seemed like all was well. So
00:09:52.959 we sit down, we eat. We'd been there 15
00:09:55.279 minutes or so and we see these two
00:09:57.519 gentlemen walk outside and go get in a
00:10:00.800 vehicle right outside the restaurant,
00:10:02.480 which we could clearly see through the
00:10:04.240 window. Um, within a minute, minute and
00:10:07.200 a half, the able-bodied gentleman comes
00:10:10.959 back into the restaurant, leaving the
00:10:13.680 wheelchair bound person in the vehicle.
00:10:16.720 And at first, I didn't quite think about
00:10:18.160 it. I thought maybe he was getting, you
00:10:19.680 know, take out and he's heading right
00:10:21.200 back out. That was not the case. This
00:10:23.279 gentleman sat back down at the bar and
00:10:25.519 continued to order more drinks. So, over
00:10:27.440 the course of 30, 45 minutes, I've got
00:10:29.920 my eye through the window on the
00:10:31.680 handicapped person in the vehicle
00:10:34.000 outside and his able-bodied person
00:10:37.279 sitting at the bar drinking. And it that
00:10:39.519 seemed kind of shocking to me. Now, I
00:10:41.519 acknowledge that I didn't know what was
00:10:43.440 going on. I don't know what the
00:10:44.720 situation was. This could have been
00:10:46.800 totally fine. But there was enough of a
00:10:49.279 part of me that thought this isn't fine.
00:10:51.920 and that something was off and our
00:10:54.959 server came by and I said, "I have to
00:10:57.279 ask a strange question and forgive me if
00:10:59.760 if if I I hope I'm totally wrong, but I
00:11:02.320 noticed the gentleman and the and the
00:11:04.160 person in the wheelchair leave the
00:11:05.519 restaurant earlier and and he came back
00:11:07.120 in and appears to be at the bar
00:11:08.720 drinking. Do does any are they known to
00:11:11.600 the staff? Is it a friend, a family
00:11:13.279 member? Is this okay?" And the server
00:11:15.680 said, leaned down and got very quiet and
00:11:18.160 said, "No, in fact, all of us as servers
00:11:20.880 have been standing over there watching
00:11:22.800 this person through the window to make
00:11:24.640 sure they're okay in the car." And then
00:11:26.480 they went on to say that this
00:11:28.240 able-bodied person does this regularly,
00:11:31.200 comes in to get food and drinks, or
00:11:33.200 moreover, drinks, puts the wheelchair
00:11:35.519 bound person in the car, and then comes
00:11:37.519 back in and sits for extended periods.
00:11:39.600 To me, that that seemed wrong. Uh, I
00:11:42.320 mean, you wouldn't leave an animal in a
00:11:44.079 car with the windows up. You know, you
00:11:47.120 wouldn't leave a human, I wouldn't
00:11:48.560 think. Now, again, I acknowledge that I
00:11:51.360 don't know the situation here, but it
00:11:53.040 seemed
00:11:54.880 not right to me. They said that they
00:11:58.160 didn't want to make any calls or raise a
00:12:00.399 fuss. They were all very young people
00:12:01.680 working at this restaurant, and I
00:12:03.200 suppose I could understand that. And I
00:12:04.399 said, "Well, I am willing to make a
00:12:06.560 call." And I did. You know, I wound up
00:12:08.480 calling and just saying, "Hey, here's
00:12:09.680 the situation. I could be completely
00:12:11.279 wrong. This may be completely
00:12:12.320 unwarranted. But it seems to me that a
00:12:14.880 person who is not able to take care of
00:12:17.360 themselves is left in a vehicle while
00:12:20.079 their able-bodied friend, family member,
00:12:22.639 what have you, is sitting in a bar
00:12:24.000 drinking ostensibly before they're going
00:12:25.680 to get in the vehicle and drive them
00:12:27.040 both somewhere. You know, the police
00:12:28.560 came. We then were told we could leave.
00:12:30.720 So, we did. So, I don't know what the
00:12:31.920 outcome was, but it it shook me so much
00:12:34.560 that since then, the balance of the
00:12:36.639 afternoon has been me just wanting to
00:12:39.120 know why people don't seem to
00:12:40.720 automatically work on some sense of
00:12:43.279 reason when they make these choices. So,
00:12:45.680 that that's my ask and and I apologize
00:12:47.680 for going so long about it, but it just
00:12:49.440 kills me. And I would hope that we as
00:12:51.760 human beings can just think about the
00:12:54.160 other human beings that we live near and
00:12:56.959 with and around and make better [ __ ]
00:12:59.760 choices with some of these things. You
00:13:01.920 know, again, apologies. I just had to
00:13:03.760 get that out.
00:13:05.200 >> It's your podcast and it's your platform
00:13:07.360 and you know, again, the five people
00:13:09.519 that listen are welcome to check out.
00:13:12.639 But I think that metal has always been
00:13:15.760 put the spotlight on the atrocities of
00:13:18.240 the world, right? famine, war, you I
00:13:21.440 mean you name it. Um and I think that
00:13:24.480 this is a great platform to bring it up
00:13:27.040 and there is in this world right now and
00:13:29.920 I brought I mentioned echo chamber
00:13:31.519 earlier there are people that go into
00:13:33.760 the digital world and will go find the
00:13:36.639 people that will agree with them. And so
00:13:38.880 the gentleman that did that to the
00:13:41.760 disabled person, it's not within the
00:13:44.240 realm of reason to believe that he
00:13:46.399 probably went and found the right people
00:13:48.560 told them what he does and they said,
00:13:50.240 "Yeah, that's a great idea. Don't treat
00:13:52.720 him like a a fellow human and and just
00:13:55.519 leave him out there. It's not your fault
00:13:57.199 that he's disabled. I can guarantee you
00:13:59.600 that." And that is the very problem with
00:14:02.240 technology. as great as it is to have a
00:14:04.240 podcast and as great as it is to be able
00:14:06.240 to stay in touch. You and I talk every
00:14:08.399 day. I'm in New Hampshire now. You're in
00:14:10.399 Naples, Florida. We're as far apart in
00:14:12.480 America as we can get we are able to do
00:14:15.600 that. So, there are positive things
00:14:17.279 about uh technology. But I think Metal
00:14:20.240 is very good at highlighting these
00:14:22.160 atrocities and you did a very good job
00:14:24.320 at highlighting an atrocity and asking
00:14:26.959 for people to be kind, be mindful. you
00:14:29.760 know, the fact that that guy wasn't
00:14:31.279 paying attention to how that looks. It's
00:14:33.360 a bad view. It's a bad look for him to
00:14:36.320 do that. And I'm I commend you for
00:14:38.639 actually going out and putting yourself
00:14:41.279 out there to do the right thing for your
00:14:43.199 fellow man. And
00:14:45.519 >> I'm happy for you. I'm glad you did.
00:14:47.680 >> I know. I appreciate that. It just And
00:14:49.920 again, and I was the first one to
00:14:51.440 acknowledge to the the few people that I
00:14:53.360 spoke to about this whole thing that
00:14:55.120 that I don't know the entire situation.
00:14:58.240 This may have all been totally fine. The
00:15:00.880 gentleman in the that you know was taken
00:15:02.480 out and left in the van may be that that
00:15:04.720 may have been exactly where he wanted to
00:15:06.560 be. And the guy who came back in may
00:15:08.800 have been drinking non-alcoholic drinks.
00:15:10.639 I don't know. But it just it really
00:15:12.959 struck me as as uncaring and as you said
00:15:16.560 unkind and not very thoughtful. And then
00:15:19.120 to anybody who didn't know the situation
00:15:20.800 like me, all I had to go on was the
00:15:23.199 appearance. And I thought this seems
00:15:25.120 like this could end very poorly. But you
00:15:27.360 mentioned the metal community and it's
00:15:29.040 one of the great things about the metal
00:15:30.720 community is like they are a very caring
00:15:33.199 thoughtful group of people on average
00:15:35.839 and I mean at name your metal show when
00:15:38.079 there's a lunacyfilled pit on the floor
00:15:41.199 if somebody goes down you will see tens
00:15:44.240 of people stopping and helping you up
00:15:46.639 back up again you know it's they they
00:15:48.560 really seem to give a [ __ ] about one
00:15:50.079 another and that's one of the reasons I
00:15:51.759 like the metal community so much so I
00:15:53.839 guess to that end yeah I I hope that
00:15:55.920 society at charge will think like the
00:15:57.440 metal community and and help their
00:15:59.040 fellow man up when they get knocked down
00:16:00.560 in the pit.
00:16:01.279 >> Well, this is might be a joke in poor
00:16:03.360 taste, but you kind of missed the boat.
00:16:04.959 You should have gone over the gentleman
00:16:06.079 and asked him to go back out to the car
00:16:08.160 and play carry and ladder by Archspire
00:16:10.480 for the individual and then everything
00:16:12.959 would have been fine. So, you missed the
00:16:14.880 boat.
00:16:15.199 >> Yeah.
00:16:16.800 Well, you know, I you know, a lot of a
00:16:19.040 lot of that stuff goes right over the
00:16:20.320 head. So, I'll take it.
00:16:22.880 Again, it might be a poor taste joke,
00:16:25.040 but I, you know, I got to make light of
00:16:26.639 the situation. It sucks. And I'm sorry
00:16:28.480 that you had to deal with that. And and
00:16:30.480 yeah, people be better. You know, be
00:16:32.240 mindful of your actions and the people
00:16:34.000 around you.
00:16:35.040 >> It's not just all about you.
00:16:36.959 >> Yeah. All about you. You're not
00:16:39.279 >> Yeah, I'm as selfish as they come. But,
00:16:41.199 you know, I mean, yeah, there are other
00:16:43.040 people around you that that uh that that
00:16:45.759 need to be looked after sometimes, you
00:16:48.079 know, even if they don't need it. just
00:16:49.440 isn't it nice to think about somebody
00:16:51.519 else for a little while? I don't know.
00:16:53.360 So, that's my ask for our uh for our
00:16:55.759 circles in in 2026. Just be mindful and
00:16:58.399 be reasonable about stuff.
00:16:59.600 >> Yeah, sounds good. I I think it's great.
00:17:01.199 And for those who are keeping score,
00:17:03.040 John is actually a very caring person
00:17:04.640 and I really do like him. Just for the
00:17:06.720 sake of [ __ ] talk, we have to, you know,
00:17:08.480 kind of crap talk each other.
00:17:10.000 >> It's the brand.
00:17:10.799 >> When this started, it's the brand. When
00:17:12.880 this started, there's a third person
00:17:14.319 that we like to make fun of. And so,
00:17:16.240 he's gone. So we still have to make fun
00:17:18.319 of each other even though we get along
00:17:19.679 and we largely agree on a lot of things.
00:17:21.599 So yeah, anyways, Archspire, great song
00:17:24.799 for you and for a number of people,
00:17:28.480 >> not for me, but check it out. Very
00:17:30.480 talented. And I hope that I hope that uh
00:17:33.440 Too Fast to Die is super hit for them
00:17:37.120 and the $400,000 that they received ends
00:17:40.160 up paying dividends.
00:17:41.760 >> Indeed. Indeed. And we just got a bunch
00:17:43.840 of new stickers in as we've got some
00:17:45.760 mini stickers here. Uh if you're
00:17:47.600 interested in it in a little sticker
00:17:49.200 pack, shoot us a shoot us a message and
00:17:50.960 we'll drop some in the mail to you. So,
00:17:52.799 uh with that, we'll see you on the next
00:17:54.640 one. D sounds good. All right, take it
00:17:57.919 easy.