Bring Me The Horizon - That's The Spirit

It was a challenge to follow up their critically acclaimed Sempiternal, but Bring Me The Horizon has trudged forward and have released their new album, That’s The Spirit. The album drops some of the band’s metalcore and heavier qualities and presents a new, alternative rock / alternative metal sound that shines a new light on the band, taking the electronic influences of Sempiternal and taking them a step further while still maintaining their core sound.

Right from the get-go, on opening track ‘Doomed’, you can tell the album is something different for the band. Beginning with various moans and groans before clean vocals come in with an atmospheric, pop-production-esque background, the listener is already given a taste of the new sound. The album makes heavy use of gang vocals, in a similar fashion to Thirty Seconds To Mars - ‘Happy Song’, ‘True Friends’, ‘Drown’, and ‘Oh No’ all have a 30STM vibe to them. ‘Happy Song’ almost reminds me of ‘September’s Children’ by Rise Against, with how the gang vocals are sung, and ‘Drown’ has gang vocals that had me thinking of the sing-a-long of Thirty Seconds To Mars’ ‘City Of Angels’.

Another fair comparison to make it to Linkin Park - Oli Sykes being a big fan of the band definitely shines through on tracks like ‘Throne’ and ‘Doomed’. With melodic yet intense vocals while maintaining an intense array of layered guitars and various other electronics, the LP vibes are strong in many songs. ‘Throne’ could even be their take on ‘Lost In The Echo’! This track is probably the closest they get to Linkin Park on the record... though each track has a distinct flair to them. Much of the album could essentially be a Linkin Park vs. Thirty Seconds To Mars album. My two favorite bands - I have zero complaints about that.

While the influences may be stronger in some places than others, Bring Me The Horizon stay true to themselves on each track. Melodic when it wants to be and extreme when it needs to be - BMTH has their sound down pat. While it That’s The Spirit may not match the evolution that was Sempiternal, it does a good job at being the follow up that album deserved. Perhaps they won’t be able to match the quality that album was - after it all, it redefined them all as musicians. But they can continue to evolve and still make great music. Spirit is the proof.

Favorite Tracks: Throne, Doomed, Avalanche

Least Favorite Tracks: What You Need, Follow You

Rating: 8/10