It could be argued that Bring Me The Horizon have forever been shedding skins regardless of the continuously tightening grip the current pandemic has on the live part of the global music industry.
The Sheffield quintet’s sixth and last album, ‘amo’, proved to be one of the most decisive forward steps on this relentless journey, one on which they’ve consciously abandoned their screamo/metalcore beginnings and alienated plenty of long-term fans in the process.
Now is still now, of course; instead of creating a new album the band have announced they’ll release four EPs instead, dropping new music – whatever it sounds like – when they want. It’s a needed release valve.
…Survival Horror’s first track Dear Diary is the essence of a band with pent up anger and energy to burn, singer Oli Sykes raging, ‘The sky is falling, it’s fucking pouring/I’m going brain-dead, isolated’, before then contorting into, ‘Traumatized for breakfast, I can’t stomach anymore Survival Horror’, as the eye-gouging industrial riffs run the listener through.
Rather than leaving time for argument about whether this constitutes a jump back or forward, there’s no pause. It would be easy to focus on the choice of collaborators here – schlock Kawaii-grinders Babymetal, Yungblud, Evanescence’s Amy Lee, metal-pop brats Nova Twins – or the tie-in with Hideo Kojima’s video game Parasite Eve, but respite is for losers. On Teardrops and especially Ludens, the precision jags are there, but Sykes’ vocals remind us how far the band have come, a quiet/loud/scream/sweet/croon that’s been reinvented from that basic, mid-noughties howl.
Where you stand on the co-stars might be influenced by what you think of them outside the BMTH bubble; the most pronounced of these feelings comes with Kingslayer, with you having to choose whether to buy Babymetal or not, while Yungblud adds some contrary grind to Obey and the Nova Twins soulfully elevate 1×1. The gong for bestest goes to Amy Lee however, ‘cos as much of a mouthful One Day The Only Butterflies Left Will Be In Your Chest As You March To Your Death is, it’s velvety gothic over-the-topness is still as eerily affecting as ever.
…Survival Horror won’t please everyone, but maybe that’s the point. Bring Me The Horizon have decided their best music is whatever they think it is, and your choices about that are your choices.
It’s a philosophy that might not keep you rich, but it will keep you free.