Bring Me The Horizon

“Why would you want to make a record with all the songs sounding the same?” Bring Me The Horizon singer Oliver Sykes posed this question during an interview with Apple Music, and it very much reveals the guiding principle behind BMTH’s always-shifting music. As with a caterpillar’s metamorphosis into a butterfly, the band that started in the mid-2000s by unleashing a particularly vicious brand of metalcore are a vastly different creature from the one that achieved stardom with 2015’s That’s the Spirit, a meticulously crafted blend of alt-rock melodies, thunderous guitars and electronic music. And that isn’t even half of it. Within their hits, the band (not unlike their heroes LINKIN PARK in the nu-metal days) consistently incorporate elements from styles across the pop-music spectrum. In addition to the EDM synths busting through “Throne”, there are immaculately polished vocals woven into the otherwise snarling “Mantra”. Then there’s “Nihilist Blues”, a 2019 collaboration with electro-pop eccentric Grimes that sees Bring Me The Horizon completely ditching the mosh pit for the all-night rave. None of this has gone down in a bubble, it should be noted. Along with the similarly minded I Prevail and A Day to Remember, Bring Me The Horizon belong to a cluster of forward-thinking metalcore outfits who have redefined heavy, riff-fuelled music with a love of genre-busting adventurousness and utterly infectious hooks.