Mind Noise Network
Bring Me The Horizon - That's The Spirit
by James Salt - 15 September 2015
Released: September 2015
Label: Sony
Website: www.bmthofficial.com
Facebook: facebook.com/bmthofficial
Bring Me The Horizon have come a long way since the days of “Count Your Blessings” in 2006, trying their hand at obnoxious deathcore and performing on stage in Scooby Doo outfits. Not much changed on 2008’s “Suicide Season” albeit some slightly better vocal hooks.
Seven years later in 2015, Oli Sykes & Co have matured into a musical force. Their musical journey decided to take a swerve with 2010’s “There Is A Hell, Believe Me I’ve Seen It, There Is A Heaven, Let’s Keep It A Secret” where we started to see the introduction of clean vocals and synths. 2013’s “Sempiternal” saw them gain chart success hitting the No3 spot in the UK charts - a huge achievement for such a young British metal band, and the musical direction veer further towards pleasing the masses.
And here we have their fifth full-length, That’s The Spirit, and it looks to propel them even further into the mainstream and quite possibly (by that I mean definitely) to the top of festival bills the world over. And quite rightly so.
Opening with the autotune-heavy Doomed there’s a noticeable improvement in Oli’s vocals. Gone are the screams and in are the high ends, and it seems the synths are taking over more than ever before. Happy Song is more familiar territory with it’s infectious downtuned riff and bass groove. Packing a memorable chorus, this is BMTH’s songwriting at it’s strongest and is bound to be a staple in their live shows alongside third track Throne - another track with a massive singalong (autotuned of course) chorus.
The band tread ballad territory on the rather boyband like Follow You. Used as more of a showcase of Oli’s vocals than the band’s musical talents, probably the weakest song on the album but the young girls are certainly going to love it. Avalanche reminds me somewhat of “It Never Ends” back from the TIAH, BMISI, TIAH, LKIAS album (why is it acceptable to give an album a title that long?) which isn’t necessarily a bad thing.
By now everyone has probably heard Drown as it was released way back last October, definitely one of the strongest tracks on the album as well as one of the best they’ve ever recorded.
Closer Oh No brings the album to it’s conclusion on a slightly weak note, not sounding too dissimilar to something you might hear from Muse in places with a brass section thrown in for good measure.
As I type BMTH look set to knock Iron Maiden off the top spot of the UK album charts (how many bands can say that?!) and on the evidence shown on this record - they probably deserve it. They’re one of the hardest working bands in the country and already have millions of adoring fans. After writing the best album of their career this would be the icing on the cake. It’s just a shame that it takes a total change in genre, a stack of synths and plenty of autotuning to get there.
James' recommended tracks: Drown and Throne
For fans of: Autotuning...
Can you see these guys in the UK?: You certainly can. Intimate dates have been announced and with festival announcements coming soon I'd imagine we'll be hearing their name even more.
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