
Bring Me the Horizon is an alt-metal/post-hardcore band from Sheffield, South Yorkshire, United Kingdom consisting of frontman & keyboardist Oli Sykes, bassist Matt Kean, guitarist/backing vocalist Lee Malia & drummer Matt Nicholls. Introducing themselves into late 2000s/early 2010s off their first 3 full-lengths Count Your Blessings as well as the Epitaph Records debut Suicide Season & There Is a Hell Believe Me I’ve Seen It. There Is a Heaven Let’s Keep It a Secret., it wasn’t until their RCA Records debut Sempiternal during my sophomore year of high school where I became a fan of theirs & I also enjoyed That’s the Spirit few months after I graduated for it’s departure from their metalcore roots. amo was a decent exploration of every aspect love has to offer & the singles building up their 7th album had me expecting it to live up to their best EP Post Human: Survival Horror.
After the “[ost] dreamseeker” intro, “YOUtopia” is a metalcore opener feeling dead inside whereas “Kool-Aid” fuses alternative metal, metalcore, industrial metal & nu metal to talk about the Jonestown Massacre. “Top 10 staTues tHat CriEd bloOd” moves on from there with the antithesis of “Follow You”, but then “liMOusine” featuring AURORA serving as the other side of the introductory song “YOUtopia”. “DArkSide” served as the official theme for this year’s Vengeance Day IV premium live event or pay-per-view from the Endeavor-owned TKO Group Holdings division WWE’s developmental brand NXT exploring the darker side of the mind & the struggles you can have with yourself from within over an alt-metal, post-hardcore & nu metal hybrid just before “a bulleT w- my namE On” featuring Underoath is a thematic sequel to “One Day The Only Butterflies Left Will Be In Your Chest As You March Towards Your Death”.
Aftet the “[ost] (spi)rituals” interlude, “n/A” opens up about Oli’s addiction & his desire to break the habit just before the emo-pop, post-hardcore, hyperpop, easycore, pop punk & electronicore single “LosT” sings about not belonging on this planet. Meanwhile on “sTraNgeRs”, we have Oli tackling themes of depression & mental illness with an overall message of unity & togetherness over an emo-pop/post-hardcore fusion leading into “R.I.P.” singing about voices in his head that’ll never leave giving off a bit of an electronicore vibe instrumentally. The song “AmEN!” featuring Glassjaw frontman Daryl Palumbo & rapper Lil Uzi Vert takes it back to the band’s original heaviness with religious connotations within the lyrics mixing alternative metal, metalcore, industrial metal, post-hardcore & rap metal into 1 while “DiE4u” following the “[ost] puss-e” interlude blends pop rock, emo-pop, electropop, alt-pop, post-hardcore, electronicore to create a style described by Oli as “future emo” dealing with addiction from the perspective of a toxic relationship prior to “DIg It” ending the album talking about self-hatred.
Post Human: Survival Horror renewed my interest in the bad considering the mixed reception that Music to listen to~dance to~blaze to~pray to~feed to~sleep to~talk to~grind to~trip to~breathe to~help to~hurt to~scroll to~roll to~love to~hate to~learn Too~plot to~play to~be to~feel to~breed to~sweat to~dream to~hide to~live to~die to~GO TO & what I hear in NeX GEn is the band’s best album in nearly a decade. They expand beyond their alternative metal & metalcore sound in favor of emo-pop, electronicore, post-hardcore, hyperpop alt-pop, industrial metal, rap metal, electropop, easycore, pop rock, pop punk & nu metal to tell an intentionally buried & hidden story from the last EP.
Score: 3.5/5
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