POST HUMAN: NeX GEn by Bring Me The Horizon | Album Review

Oli Sykes and Co. dive headfirst into hyper-pop and more on the band’s long-awaited 7th studio album.

Listen to Post Human: NeX GEn: Apple Music | Spotify

The wait is finally over. After 3 years of teasing, and delays, Bring Me The Horizon has returned with POST HUMAN: NeX GEn. The album is the second entry in their Post Human series they first introduced in 2020 with POST HUMAN: Survival Horror.

The original idea was to release 4 EPs within the course of a year under this “POST HUMAN” label. However, thanks to the COVID-19 Pandemic, getting back on tour and the departure of keyboardist Jordan Fish, those original plans were thrown out the window. Thankfully, the band did not abandon this series and delivered the second POST HUMAN installment after a long time of waiting.

In contrast to Survival Horror’s nu-metal tinges, NeX GEn dives headfirst into pop-punk and hyper-pop territory, expanding and diversifying the band even more than 2019’s Amo. All the while still carrying that slight hardcore edge BMTH is known for.

Expectations don’t exist when it comes to Bring Me The Horizon’s music. With each release, they seem always to divert listeners and go against the grain, but with NeX GEn this point feels stronger than ever. BMTH plays around with dance music on songs like “Rip (duskCOre Remix)”. They throw it back to mid-2000s emo music on tracks like “LosT”, “Top 10 staTues tHat CriEd bloOd”, and “a bulleT w- my namE On”.

Several interludes scattered throughout with a “{ost}” suffix see the band hone in on this hyper-pop sound with pitched up vocals and glitchy electronics. Often times they try to blend this style with metalcore on “Kool-Aid” or “AmEN!” and it works surprisingly well! It switches things up from the usual affair of metalcore music. Rarely BMTH throws it back to its roots with the Deftones-esque “liMOusIne” with its sludgy guitar riff or the brief screamo piece towards the end of “DIg It”.

NeX GEn is much more varied than its predecessor and showcases Bring Me’s insistence on evolving their sound. Often the album does get a bit derivative, namely with songs such as “DArkSide” or “sTraNgeRs”. Both carry this generic, samey quality that the rest of the album deviates from.

Lead singer Oli Sykes is less fixated on apocalyptic visions of the world this time. Album opener “YOUtopia” speaks on finding a new peaceful utopia, its pop-punk inflections bring a happier tone compared to Survival Horror’s “ Dear Diary,”. Yet this peace gets disturbed throughout, as Oli questions the cult-like practices of “Kool-Aid” with lines like: (“We are the children of the devolution, the infamous martyrs, the scars on the sun.”). Realizing that this “utopia” may not be what it seems.

At several points on the album, Oli does a lot of soul-searching and introspection. He caves into his dark thoughts on “liMOusIne”, resulting in a group therapy session on the grungy “n/A” where he attempts to escape these feelings of despair (“Kinda wanna get fucked, make love to a chainsaw, wrap my drop-top ‘round a lamppost. Not sure I’ll be coming back down this time.”). Oli’s knack for cathartic lyricism shines on here, putting listeners into his headspace quite well.

As he comes to accept his flaws on “LosT”, and continues to expose this supposed utopia on “AmEN!”, things reach a breaking point on the album’s closer “DIg It”. Unsatisfied with himself and this new world he’s found, he feels lied to: (“Cause everyone’s too scared to heal, they don’t give a fuck how they feel and I just don’t know how to deal anymore. Maybe the damage is done, maybe the darkness has won.”). It’s a gloomy way to end NeX GEn but wraps up this quasi-concept of a fake utopia perfectly, while setting up the story to be continued in the next Post Human installment.

Overall, NeX GEn pushes Bring Me The Horizon even further beyond then what listeners were probably expecting. Opting for a more energetic, hyper-pop influence with their sound results in a diverse album that still carries the band’s usual edge and lyrical flair. While it doesn’t hit the mark all of the time, NeX GEN was still a very enjoyable listen.

I’m giving NeX GEN a solid 8.5 out of 10. I appreciate the band for shaking it up a bit with the production and offering something different compared to 2020’s Survival Horror. Now whether or not the third entry in the POST HUMAN series will take another 3–4 years to drop is debatable, but I can only imagine the band will experiment even further than they did on NeX GEN.

Final Rating: 8.5 out of 10.

Favourite Tracks: YOUtopia, Kool-Aid, liMOusIne, a bulleT w- my namE On, n/A, AmEN!, DIg It