Bring Me The Horizon – Amo

8th February 2019 0 By Aaron Emerson

One of the biggest names to come out Britain since Black Sabbath and Iron Maiden, Bring Me the Horizon has seen it all in the scene that once viewed them in a not so savoury light. Back in the early 200’s was the peak of the Screamo and Emo scenes and BMTH were held solidly inside that movement. Now I will admit that they were not really my thing, however I have grown since then to respect music that didn’t appeal to my better nature, from Black Metal to Death Metal, Screamo really did grate on me. Since their inception, however BMTH has also grown and evolved their music from their early days. From the beginnings of their 2006 EP This is What the Edge of your Seat is Made For and 20017’s album Count Your Blessings to the more recent Sempiternal in 2013 and 2015’s That’s the Spirit, there is drastic shift in the sound of the band. It has to be said, that my preference is towards the more recent material and I felt it was prudent to see what their latest album, four years in the making, Amo has to offer the mainstream of metal, so let’s find out.

Opening with what feels like an extended Intro in ‘I Apologize if You Feel Something’, the album starts with a soft background sampling with a small amount of lyrical overlay before ripping into ‘Mantra’ with some catchy riffs and clean vocals. Gone are the screams and death rattles, replaced by clean vocals with a slight bite to them. The tag of Screamo is definitely a thing of the past, replaced by a more Melodic Metal style. The use of samples is constantly used throughout and their use highlights the tracks rather than over saturating them which can happen. There are occasions where the sample sue does border on Dance music such as in ‘Nihilist Blues’ but this feels purposeful especially with he “solo” dance beats halfway through. This shouldn’t deter you from listening to those songs, on the contrary, it works really well with the heavy drum use and powerful riffs that can be heard throughout. At times however, it does feel like your listening to Ed Sheeran on drugs, or at the very least, how he would sound if you added a few Hard Rock bars to his music; whether this was what BMTH was looking for, is hard to tell, yet when you hear tracks like ‘In the Dark’ and then bass heavy riff sodden ‘Wonderful Life’ you have to wonder if this is the same album. I ell you what though, the album just keeps you guessing and that’s a fantastic thing.

The drastic change ups in the tracks, much like their musical career, continues to impress throughout the 13 tracks and ‘Ouch’ bring us even more surprises with odd Hip-Hop and J-Pop undertones but it’s their latest single ‘Medicine’ that certainly gives the tone of the album with its lyrical connotations as well as the freaky video that accompanies the song. The up changes and down changes of dragging in elements of different music genres seems to be a huge them throughout the album, ever more aspects of Dance samples and Hip-Hop, continue with massive riffs of Hard Rock and border line Metalcore growls appear which is hugely evident in ‘Why You Gotta Kick Me While I’m Down?’. The melodic tones of the songs really are a bit of a let down afterThat’s the Spirit (2015) and Sempiternal (2013) as they look to have taken it too far down the softer route that it’s almost Poprock for the most part with the big tracks showing up as ‘Mantra’ and ‘Wonderful Life’; then ‘Heavy Metal’ hits which drags back some of the heavier riffs but still have that Hip-Hop meets Rap and the lyrics of “this ain’t heavy metal” could not be more true.

This isn’t for everybody as BMTH experiment to the extreme and although it doesn’t always appear to work, casein point with ‘Ouch’ and ‘Fresh Bruises’, they must be commended on their bravery to push the envelope this far. As an Album it’s a bit hit and miss, but those misses are real misses which is a true shame.

Score 6/10

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