10 So anthemic

Don’t be fooled by the singles: Bring Me The Horizon’s sixth full length still has surprises waiting for those willing to make the jump.

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Immediately, the lush bass boom that heralds the first taste of amo begs to be listened with full force subwoofers in i apologise if you feel something. MANTRA has grown over time to a juggernaut (a Grammy nomination should say it all), but nihilist blues will really invoke the ire of the Bring Me purists. An almost German haus beat that pulsates like a chugging machine sets the tone for the rest of the record.

It would be reductive to call amo the successor to That’s The Spirit. Yes there’s references to fan favourite Follow You in the clever “I know I said you could drag me through hell/but I hope you wouldn’t fuck the devil” that find the flipside of a whirlwind romance crashing and burning in the public eye. That’s ruminated on during why you gotta kick me when i’m down and the various interlude-merged-into-tracks that pop up to alter the vibration.

This record is built to break hearts and make others burst. When Bring Me inevitably headline your favourite festival, this is unequivocally the record that put them there.

But that’s what amo has: a peculiar energy that allows each new taste of what Bring Me believe to be their sound to come together into a broken but cohesive record. For some, it’s probably time to drop the ‘completely shocked’ act: we all knew that wonderful life (feat. Dani Filth) would be the heaviest it’d get. That’s okay, because this record is about love and all its trappings; whether they be intoxicating highs or suffocating lows.

The verses this time around are so catchy and so anthemic, the Insta caption potential runneth over. Tell us you haven’t already seen “some people are a lot like clouds you know …” somewhere under a selfie. The dedication to new love on mother tongue will have cynics rolling their eyes (unfair because we think it’s the definition of wholesome) but that’s because they’d rather latch onto the following heavy metal. Catch every kid in a Black Dahlia tank reckon it’s about them, and hold out for the final few seconds: older fans will whoop with delight.

This record is built to break hearts and make others burst. When Bring Me inevitably headline your favourite festival, this is unequivocally the record that put them there. Love and loss from fans, relationships, friends, and self. It’s all here on amo.

STICK THIS NEXT TO: Grimes, The Plot In You, PVRIS

STANDOUT TRACKS: MANTRA, heavy metal, nihilist blues