Project Description
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BRING ME THE HORIZON
“POST HUMAN: SURVIVAL HORROR”
EP Review
(22nd November 2020)
Reviewer – Connor Gutteridge
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“Bring Me can blend heaviness into their new material so easily, it’s a surprise other bands don’t just give up.” – Hysteriamag.com
“It has a touch of everything they’ve been producing over the past decade and really cements them as one of the world’s BEST rock bands getting about today.” – Wall Of Sound
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Bring Me The Horizon are a Rock/Metal band out of the United Kingdom. After a sixteen-year long career, the British outlet is back with their eighth record titled POST HUMAN: SURVIVAL HORROR.
This record brings a whole new feel to the band diving into a range of different styles throughout the record and touching on some pressing topics that are being faced in the world today. Bring Me The Horizon has been known for a long time as one of the most popular metal bands of the late 2000s and 2010’s and this record feels like a dive back into older styles.
There were four tracks released before the release of the record which all worked hand in hand to give a taste for the new and improved style. Kicking off the releases was their track ‘Ludens’ which rolls with a fun mixture of EDM and metal influences with very catchy melodies utilised. This tracks also saw the rebirth of the signature Bring Me The Horizon breakdown that all listeners of the older albums know and love. No one writes a breakdown better than Bring Me The Horizon.
The record incorporates a range of different guest appearances that were in my opinion unexpected but definitely welcome. First off in the third of the pre-release tracks we saw the incorporation of English pop-punk singer YungBlud for the track titled ‘Obey’. A fun, fast-paced song with a diverse range of elements catching the listener by surprise. The biggest surprise I found was YungBlud’s ability to pull of metal and some hectic screams in his section of the track. I was relatively unfamiliar with YungBlud before hearing this track, however, was pleasantly surprised after doing my research as to how different this is to his normal style and how well it is pulled off. This track has risen to be one of the more popular tracks from the record and it is easy to see why this is, it truly has elements to cater for everyone, spanning from metal through to electronic dance.
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Another guest appearance on the record was the use of Babymetal in the track ‘Itch for the Cure/Kingslayer’, a fast-paced melodic minor track that suits the elements perfectly. The pace of the guitars and drums set a lot of the sections apart in this track, not through the change of BPM but more the use of faster drum patterns and strum patterns. This is a fun trick that the band has become very good at utilising. The incorporation of Babymetal to this track is a thought of genius as I couldn’t imagine any other artist pulling off the vocal section they did. I also love how they have added something of a breakdown into this track, but it’s a typical Babymetal style. This is a crowd mover for sure and will be a fan favorite of both bands upon arrival.
The last two tracks that see guest appearances are the track ‘1×1’ featuring the Nova Twins and ‘One Day the Only Butterflies Left Will Be in Your Chest As You March Towards Your Death’ featuring Amy Lee from Evanescence.
Both tracks take a more of a ballad approach to it with ‘1×1’ having a louder approach with lots more incorporation of dirty vocals and vocal range. The Nova Twins were another artist I was unfamiliar with and upon first listen to this track without knowing any better I thought the guest vocalist was Kellin Quinn from Sleeping with Sirens.
‘One Day the Only Butterflies……’ takes a different approach to ballad style in that it is a slow-paced softer song that is very heartfelt and emotional in the lyrical content. One big stand out to me with this track was the vocal section of Oli Sykes and how he incorporates intensified vocals in with the softer sweet vocals. I believe this adds a level of depth to this track. Both of these tracks are likely to cater more to the later fans of the band since they have softened the style, while still having elements enjoyed by the true metalheads, besides who doesn’t love Amy Lee right?
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Parasite Eve in my opinion was the real turning point for the band, sending a message to their fans that they were taking elements of their new style and elements of their old style and creating something truly individual. Heavy EDM influence throughout the verses, distorted guitars and long chords mixed with intense vocals in the choruses, and of course a cracking breakdown. The one thing I’m not a fan of with this track is the very wordy chorus however, I can see how it fits and works well with this track.
I could not pick a favourite track from this record, so I pinned it down to two different tracks. First off, we have the opener to the record, the hard-hitting ‘Dear Diary’. This song is perfect as a record opener as it is completely different from anything we have heard from the band in a very long time and gives the listener a sense of “WTF is happening?”. The use of single-string riffs, blast beats, and straight scream vocal sections throw shades of Suicide Season at old school fans and is a very welcome change of tune. I love how they still have strong elements of electronic in the background of the band that adds layers to the track making it a big feeling track. This is such an awesome way to introduce this absolute banger of an album.
Finally, the second of my two favourite tracks from the record was the final pre-release titled ‘Teardrops’. It took me a second to get into this song no doubt and personally was not a huge fan the first time I heard it. However, upon listening to it many more times the beauty is discovered in the writing. The amount of influence int his song is what makes it such a good song, I get a very strong Linkin Park ‘Meteora’ vibe from most of the track with a Breaking Benjamin vibe from the outro section of the track. This is one of the less intense tracks from the record while still incorporating all the heavy elements that have made this album in my opinion the best one to date. Simplicity is key in the statement that comes to mind with this track, if there were any more it would take away from the track itself, it is arranged perfectly with each element sitting in place perfectly.
All in all, this record is an incredible way for the band to burst back onto the metal scene and I love how it is bringing the old fans and the new fan together, it’s very smart when you think about it.
“I don’t give many of these, but this album is a 10/10 for me. Well done Bring Me The Horizon on an absolute cracker album.”
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BUY –
POST HUMAN: SURVIVAL HORROR
HERE
PRE-ORDER FROM JB HI-FI AND ENTER THE COMPETITION FOR YOUR CHANCE TO
WIN MATT KEAN’S MASK FROM THE PARASITE EVE VIDEO IN A COLLECTABLE BOX
CD & VINYL OUT JANUARY 22
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POST HUMAN: SURVIVAL HORROR
TRACK LISTING:
01. Dear Diary,
02. Parasite Eve
03. Teardrops
04. Obey with YUNGBLUD
05. Itch For The Cure (When Will We Be Free?)
06. Kingslayer ft. BABYMETAL
07. 1×1 feat. Nova Twins
08. Ludens
09. One Day The Only Butterflies Left Will Be In Your Chest As You March Towards Your Death feat. Amy Lee
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Follow BRING ME THE HORIZON
Website – Facebook – Instagram – Twitter
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About Bring Me The Horizon
BRIT and Grammy-nominated, multi-platinum-selling quintet Bring Me The Horizon is one of the most electrifying and successful rock bands to emerge from the UK. The group released their sixth studio album, amo, in 2019, which debuted at Number 1 in 17 markets and the band’s 4th consecutive ARIA #1 album in Australia was named “one of the most anticipated albums of 2019” by Billboard, with NME describing it as “bold, brilliant and boundary-pushing.” amo garnered the band their second Grammy nomination for ‘Best Rock Album’ after the LP’s first single, MANTRA, earned them a nod for ‘Best Rock Song’ in 2018. The Sheffield 5-piece also received their first BRIT Award nomination for ‘Best Group’ this year. Bring Me The Horizon has sold over 4 million albums globally to date, played sold-out shows in over 40 countries, including two sold out nights at London’s O2, one night at The Forum in Los Angeles, and wowed a traditionally non-rock crowd at Glastonbury Festival in 2016 and 2018, and stole the show at high profile festivals across Europe all summer 2019. amo followed 2016’s critically acclaimed, Platinum-certified That’s The Spirit, which is platinum in Australia entered the ARIA chart at #1 and UK charts and the US Billboard album chart at Number Two. They have now also amassed over 1 billion video views on YouTube.
Bring Me The Horizon are vocalist Oli Sykes, guitarist Lee Malia, bassist Matt Kean, drummer Mat Nicholls, and keyboardist Jordan Fish.
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