Sam Carter, vocalist of Architects, has posted a statement on Instagram titled "Time for some honesty," addressing the criticism he has received on social media over his live vocal performances and the severe anxiety and panic attacks that pressure has caused him over the past year. The message comes days before the Brighton band head out as guests of Korn on a 19-date arena tour of Europe and the UK.
"Time for some honesty, and it's not going to be easy, as it's something I have worked on tirelessly over the last year," Carter wrote. He said that "the joy of performing has been taken away from me," and that he has reached a point where, every time he goes to scream, "the voice inside my head stops me from being able to do the job that I've done for the last 20 or so years."
The singer traced the moment things spiralled to this summer's Rock am Ring in Germany, where he had a difficult day trying out a new vocal technique in front of "90-odd thousand people." He pointed to "the online discourse around my voice and the constant judgement" as what pulled him into a place he has struggled to get out of, adding that the harder he tried, the crueller the comments became over the summer, leaving him physically and emotionally drained and with stage anxiety he could no longer control.
Carter thanked his bandmates and his wife for their support, and said he has been working on his technique with coach David Benites of Extreme Vocal Academy. He also said he sees a therapist every week and takes medication for anxiety. "The comments and judgement have got too much," he added. "I'm a human being trying my hardest up there, and some things aren't going to be perfect." He also admitted he had hoped for a big comeback moment, but accepted that real life does not work that way.
The Korn tour opens October 18 at Stuttgart's Hanns-Martin-Schleyer-Halle and ends November 21 at Milan's Unipol Forum. Along the way it calls at Munich, Cologne, the Accor Arena in Paris, Leeds, Birmingham, Newcastle, Manchester, Dublin's 3Arena and London's The O2 on November 4, before moving on to Amsterdam, Antwerp, Hamburg, Hanover, Berlin, Prague, Krakow and Vienna. Youth Code and Pixel Grip complete the support bill. Carter pledged to sing those dates "from a place of passion and determination," and closed his message: "Be kind, you never know what someone is truly going through."
Carter joined Architects shortly after the departure of original vocalist Matt Johnson, ahead of the recording of 'Ruin' (2007). Since then he has recorded albums including 'Lost Forever // Lost Together' (2014), 'All Our Gods Have Abandoned Us' (2016), 'Holy Hell' (2018) and 'For Those That Wish to Exist' (2021), the band's first UK No. 1. Their most recent album, 'The Sky, the Earth & All Between,' came out in February 2025. The current lineup is completed by drummer Dan Searle, bassist Alex Dean and guitarist Adam Christianson. The vocalist has previously spoken in interviews about mental health and the need for men to be able to show vulnerability, a subject the band also explored on 'The Classic Symptoms of a Broken Spirit' (2022).
