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Rating: The main statement that Bring Me The Horizon, a deathcore/metalcore band hailing from Sheffield, implicitly wanted to release in 2019 was this: “Every label related to rock or metal is starting to feel tight on us”.
The pop sensibility of Oliver Sykes and company had already begun to emerge prominently in “Sempiternal” (2013), a work in which – thanks to the inclusion of keyboardist Jordan Fish into the band – the guitars often gave way to electronic soundscapes and ethereal settings, thus bringing to life atmospheric sections capable of providing respite to the more “heavy” segments. The subsequent “That’s the Spirit” (2015) was another step in that direction: from the original deathcore, only the graceless scream of the singer remained, peeking unnecessarily into many pop-rock tracks. The production, entrusted to Fish, was the album’s strength, managing to merge the band's needs with a certain sonic smoothness typical of pop, essential for attempting an assault on the charts.
The band’s 2019 opened with “amo”, a bizarre concept album on love that finally offered the public an apparently more sincere version of the current Bring Me The Horizon. The impression one gets by the end of the tracklist is a band that, even through trivial aesthetic matters (track titles strictly in lowercase), is leaving behind a cumbersome label that has started not to represent them anymore in favor of a more instinctive and sincere approach: this means entering the studio and creating music primarily for themselves.
Clearly, “amo” is still a Bring Me The Horizon album, and the guitars can only represent the foundation of a couple of episodes (above all, the singles “MANTRA” and “wonderful life”). What surprises, however, is the ability of the five members to experiment without losing even a fraction of their radio potential (the added value remains the impeccable production): Sykes and company venture then into trap territories (“why you gotta kick me when i’m down?”), liquid drum & bass (“ouch”), and art-pop (“nihilist blues”) with very good results.
This new “Music to GO TO”, despite the ridiculously long title necessarily abbreviated here, is the extra step that those who appreciated “amo” were expecting from the band. Released without notice last December 27, it was presented as an EP containing outtakes from the album released in January. Everything that could have been, in short. But there is something immediately puzzling: a 75-minute EP? Yes; like the title, the duration is also intentionally exaggerated. But rarely does one get the impression that these are 75 wasted minutes: in this work, Bring Me The Horizon reveals all their passion for electronics, further expanding the sound palette used in “amo.”
One of the first things noticed during the listening of this EP is that the group has started to enjoy subverting expectations. A manifesto of the entire work could be the sudden change that occurs just over a minute into the opening “Steal Something.”: one moves without the slightest hint from an enveloping post-rock introduction dominated by reverberated guitars to a bursting section, decidedly less abstract, which will constitute a good part of the ten minutes total length of the track. It’s a continuous take it or leave it: Bring Me The Horizon enjoys developing their ideas in eight tracks of varied nature, obsessively insisting on rhythms and melodies (such is the case with “Dead Dolphin Sounds ‘aid brain growth in unborn child’ Virtual Therapy/Nature Healing 2 Hours”) or abruptly cutting off admirable pop intuitions (as in the closing track “±øþ³§”, noted especially for the splendid treatment reserved for guest Theresa Jarvis’s voice, to which a leading role is entrusted); it’s up to us to decide whether to play along and continue listening or give up, tired of being toyed with continuously by the artists.
The only real mockery identifiable in this EP is the fifth track “Underground Big {HEADFULOFHYENA}”, 24 minutes largely occupied by a monologue by singer Oliver Sykes over a loop repeated endlessly. I doubt it discusses sufficiently interesting matters; I didn’t go beyond ten minutes and I advise you to do the same. Having erased this “song” from memory, what remains is a set of very interesting, albeit not too original, cues.
Clear influences of Burial can be found in the initial rhythmic section of “Candy Truck/You Expected: LAB Your Result: Green”, a track that offers us a clear vision of dance music imagined by the group before giving way to a subdued and introspective piano coda. It has orchestral breath instead “A Devastating Liberation”, which reprises the melody of “why you gotta kick me when i’m down?” and offers a more epic, pompous but at the same time emotionally strong interpretation.
Elements of the recent musical past of the group also emerge in the collaboration with the pop queen Halsey “¿”, a reworking of “in the dark”, one of the most carefree and genuinely melancholic moments of “amo.” It turns out to be a lukewarm piece, which doesn’t add much new to what was said by the first three tracks of the EP - perhaps just an amen break - and is limited to reaffirming BMTH’s desire to produce powerful and distorted beats and modify vocal tracks as much as possible.
Everything works slightly better in “like seeing spiders running riot on your lover’s grave”, a simple pop number with perfectly produced lo-fi influences, where a well-chosen brass section stands out, capable of catalyzing the listener’s emotional involvement.
In conclusion, an EP that cannot escape the pop label, but literally shreds almost all (not infrequent) radio suggestions in favor of healthy fun in the studio and experimentation. Bring Me The Horizon are emerging from their shell without losing their identity and are working in a well-defined direction, which could only be glimpsed in recent albums. “Music to GO TO” confirms their ability to craft excellent electro-pop tracks and is an important indicator of their desire to create something more ambitious than the simple “radio song.”
Tracklist
07 Dead Dolphin Sounds 'aid brain growth in unborn child' Virtual Therapy / Nature Healing 2 Hours (10:09)
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