EBM, Electronic

Bring Me The Horizon – Music to listen to~dance to~[…] (Review)

Artist: Bring Me The Horizon
Album: Music to listen to~dance to~blaze to~pray to~feed to~sleep to~talk to~grind to~trip to~breathe to~help to~hurt to~scroll to~roll to~love to~hate to~learn Too~plot to~play to~be to~feel to~breed to~sweat to~dream to~hide to~live to~die to~Go to
Genre: Electronic, EBM (some sort of)
Country: UK
Release date: 27th of December, 2019
Released via Sony Music Entertainment
Cover artwork © Sony 2019

Let me share my personal history with this band:

It all began in the heydays of myspace.com. My cousin was in his Emo-phase and wore very skinny jeans that were seemingly not available in Germany. While looking for a certain brand, he stumbled upon Bring Me The Horizon, who were endorsed/ promoted by that certain brand. Although they looked like a typical Emocore band, their music was Proto-Deathcore. So my cousin gave them a pass and said to me: “You might like this.” And he was right.

The debut EP This Is What The Edge Of Your Seat Was Made For got me hooked. The debut album couldn’t hold the level in my opinion, but had some really nice tunes, I still enjoy today (“Braille“, “Black And Blue“, “Pray For Plagues“).

From that point on, every following album marked a stylistic departure for Bring Me The Horizon. Suicide Season and There Is A Hell… were a shift into Metalcore (Suicide Season is still my favorite album). Sempiternal featured (good) clean vocals and more Pop elements, but was a strong album nonetheless (“Shadow Moses“!). That’s The Spirit was an even bigger stray from the path they had chosen. With this album they sounded a lot like Linkin Park or 30 Seconds To Mars with more punch. The opener “Doomed” and the closer “Oh No” are great Rock songs that are on my greatest hits list for this band.

Then amo came along, the most diverse album by Bring Me The Horizon to date. Everything goes here, some call backs to the past (“wonderful life” “MANTRA“), Trance (“nihilist blues“) and Pop (“mother tounge“). What made this album good was the same thing that made the last Code Orange album Forever great (some might find it offensive, to compare both bands): it works as a whole.

Every album marked sometimes a small, sometimes a big stylistic departure for the band and this EP or album is no exception.

Music to listen to~dance to~blaze to~pray to~feed to~sleep to~talk to~grind to~trip to~breathe to~help to~hurt to~scroll to~roll to~love to~hate to~learn Too~plot to~play to~be to~feel to~breed to~sweat to~dream to~hide to~live to~die to~Go to (I am going to write it only once in full, except from the title) is something, but I don’t know if I would call it an album/ EP or an experiment. Eight songs in total, consisting of two remixes (“¿ (feat. Halsey)” contains elements of “in the dark” and “A Devastating Liberation” cites the chorus of “why you gotta kick me when i’m down” and six new songs.

The EP has the feeling of a mixtape. Most of the time it sounds like a DJ-mixtape of club music. No real drums, one moment of Rock guitars (“Underground Big {HEADFULOFHYENA} (feat. Bexey & Lotus Eater)“) and a lot guest features and long titles. It is easy to prey on this EP. This is no Bring Me The Horizon at all. The only thing connected to Bring Me The Horizon is the voice of Oliver Sykes (singer), the rest sound like everything BUT this band.

The two aforementioned “remixes” are good variations of the songs. Other recommendations would be “±ªþ³§ (feat. YONAKA)” and “Dead Dolphin Sounds ‘aid brain growth in unborn child’ Virtual Therapy / Nature Healing 2 Hours (feat. Toriel)“. It is very trippy and in my opinion no album that will be ranked among the albums released before it.

I enjoyed the ride that left me guessing most of the time, but it is an interesting experiment either way. In the end it is just another departure from the sound/ style of the last album and I’m sure there will be more in the future.

As usual, we added the favorite track(s) to our Transcended Review Playlist.

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