"POST HUMAN: SURVIVAL HORROR" is a 9 track EP by Sheffield bred UK metalers Bring me the Horizon. According to Wikipedia this is the first of 4 EPs which will be released over the next year which once all done will combine to make an album. It does bring the question straight away - why didn't they just add an extra track on here to make it 10 tracks and become a proper an album in itself? Already it's sitting at 32 minutes which bands often release as full length albums. It is a strange route to go down as often this tactic is used by bands in their infancy before building up to their debut album trying to gain momentum. Where as BMTH already have that momentum and already very well established. Maybe they just have so much material they want the world to hear.
I cant say I'm too familiar with their whole back catalogue but I did really enjoy "amo" which they released early last year and did make it in to my top 10 albums of last year. That album saw them branching out and trying new things from their well documented metal routes. Then after that they released an EP "Music to listen to~dance~to.....". I would say the whole title but its incredibly long. A bit like the EP which although is just 8 tracks, sits at 1 hour 15 minutes. That saw them become even more experimental but to be honest I wasn't that impressed with it.
So what what direction did they go in this EP. Well they have continued to push boundaries but at the same time have returned to their heavier routes. This is because out of the 9 tracks on the EP, 5 of the tracks are collaborations with other artists. I do like the approach taken to all the collaborations regardless of whether I like the songs or not. What I mean by this is that there is a balance between Oli Sykes vocals and the guest vocals. Meaning it still as the BMTH vibe throughout the album with the other vocals coming in to give the songs a new dimension and to give a variation in their sound.
I would say my favourite collaboration on the album is with BABYMETAL in the song "Kingslayer". BABYMETAL are such a fun and unique band and the bands compliment each other so well in this song. The next track after that "1x1" features the Nova Twins which means some more female vocals. To be honest I have never heard of the Nova Twins before hearing this but this makes me want me to investigate them more. Which is the beauty of collaborations. It allows fans of bands to discover other bands that maybe they wouldn't have found otherwise. There is one collab which I didn't think worked quite as well and that is with Amy Lee of Evanesance on the last track "One day the only butterflies left will be in you". This on paper is probably the biggest collaboration on the album as Amy Lee and Evanesance are massive in their own right. It's not that it's a really bad song. It's ok. It just doesn't really fit on the album. And I don't think the two vocal styles compliment each other as well as some of the other collaborations on the album.
The other 4 tracks on the album are full on Bring me the Horizon tracks who are well and truly back to their heavy roots. The singles "Parasite Eve" and "Ludens" in particular really do pack a punch and maybe fans who were disappointed with the direction the band went with "amo" will be pleased that BMTH are returning to playing the sort of music that got them into them in the first place.
Overall this is a good EP. I think this is a band who are taking advantage of the current music landscape and releasing more music as its just so accessible with streaming services. And also with the current pandemic unfortunately making music is all they can do right now. I think this EP will be a stepping stone for the band as they continue their rise and global success. Bringing in various artists has on the whole expanded their sound for the better and I think will bring them new fans as well as give their fans so new music by other bands to listen to that they might not have been aware of. But even out with the collaborations they show that they can deliver the goods on their own too.
No comments:
Post a Comment