Review: Bring Me The Horizon – POST HUMAN: SURVIVAL HORROR
By Jordan Onslow
BMTH are a band that have always refused to stagnate, with an obsessive style for innovation and re-inventing themselves. However, with the release of POST HUMAN: SURVIVAL HORROR, is this new look BMTH for the better?
Well yes… and no. This new album, in a word, is experimental. Every track, from “Dear Diary”, right through to “One Day The Only Butterflies Left Will Be In Your Chest As You March Towards Your Death” (Yes that is the actual title, this album is nothing if not cheery) has its own unique sound. Some, such as “Parasite Eve” harken back to the early metal aggression period of BMTH’s catalogue and is a real triumph. My favourite song on the album by far, the dark and foreboding lyricism converge with an aggressive beat which culminates in an awesome sound.
The aforementioned “One Day The Only Butterflies Left Will Be In Your Chest As You March Towards Your Death” closes the album with the band’s unique version of a power ballad, as they team up with Evanescence’s Amy Lee. It is a brilliant example of what can happen when the band experiments. Amy Lee is incandescent in her range and ability to make a song her own – is likely that this song will gain attention in the mainstream, as it is far more palatable than the rest of the album.
The opening song “Dear Diary” was my greatest disappointment when listening to the album, it is a sound deeply rooted in heavy metal, written in the beginning of lockdown and the lyrics are especially mean as Oli Sykes roars them into existence. The monotony of lockdown is the focus of this song, but if anything I found the song just that; monotonous. The sound does very little that is unique or especially exciting when compared to the rest of the album. Meanwhile, “Teardrops” mends that disappointment with a throwback to the genre that made BMTH a household name: Emo rock.
“Teardrops” will make for a perfect storm of old and new for many longtime fans, picking up on the tinge of psychedelic that BMTH’s groundbreaking 2015 album “amo” began with, mixed with that classic BMTH emo rock formula. YUNGBLUD, BABYMETAL and the Nova Twins also feature in this album in three experimental songs: “obey”, “Kingslayer” and “1×1” respectively. These are successful songs in their own right, but appear to not fully flesh out their ideas as well as I believe they could have.
Regardless, as ever BMTH deserves their plaudits for attempting to experiment where so many refuse to innovate and focus on collecting cheques. The band have announced that they have three more EP’s planned for 2021 in this new POST HUMAN series and I am excited to see them fully flesh out some of the better ideas found within this album, or innovate once more. The mysticism around Bring Me The Horizon is the draw for many. Fans would be better off looking at horoscopes than trying to guess what they are up to next.
Final score: 3/5
