Album Review | ‘Post Human: Nex Gen’ by Bring Me The Horizon
The Sheffield shamans continue to spit in the face of stagnation with their latest evolution
- Genre: Metalcore / Electronica / Hyperpop / Emo / Pop-punk / Nu-metal
- Members: Oli Sykes, Jordan Fish, Lee Malia, Matt Kean, Matt Nicholls
- Length: 55 Minutes
- Label: RCA Records
- Released: 2024
The New (Old) Breed
Anyone familiar with Bring Me The Horizon knows at this point that the only thing predictable about this band’s creative output is its unpredictability — and while there’s something to be said for consistency of sound, as a lover of the creative endeavors I find the dangers inherent to staying on the move rather stimulating. Like Avenged Sevenfold, BMTH doesn’t seem to look at their tenure in the scene as an excuse to stick with what worked; instead, for the last twenty years they’ve remained committed to growing their skills as songwriters and seeking new paths with every release.
From their early aughts heyday as deathcore upstarts (2013’s inspirational metalcore masterpiece Sempiternal) to closing out the 2010s with electropop-rock anthemics (That’s The Spirit, Amo), experimental electronica (Music To…), and ushering in the 20’s with the gonzo-good feature-heavy assault of Post Human: Survival Horror, Oli Sykes and Co. have refused at every turn to take the commercially-simple road.
Most importantly, from a listening perspective, I’ve loved just about all of it, with their output from 2013 onward standing out as an unbroken run of excellence. Four years later, we finally have the next installment in the Post Human series, Nex Gen. Will it continue their run of W’s? Or has the push for artistic gain over commercial certainty finally gone too far?
I wasn’t sure what to think of the album based on several of the singles released after its arrival. “Lost” was decidedly entrenched in an emo/pop-punk vibe, and even with some heavier bits scattered within, I wasn’t sold. Likewise with “Amen!.”
“Kool-Aid” and “Darkside” grabbed me more, focusing more on aggressive, deathcore-tinged elements to contrast against the poppier throughlines. Fast-forward to the album’s release, and I see a track called “puss.e”, and maybe it’s time to be worried.
Or, maybe it’s time to shut up and trust the process because goddamn, the boys have delivered perhaps their most infectious offerings since 2019's Amo and are an easy frontrunner for Album of the Year.
Across sixteen tracks and fifty-five minutes, Bring Me The Horizon unleashes a virulent marriage of throat-shredding deathcore, metalcore, thumping electronica, emo, and grooving alternative metal, powered by anthemic choruses and heady emotionality to create the ultimate ‘sadboi-radboi’ album.
Vocalist Oli Sykes tackles topics like depression and addiction with a mixture of dark satire, heart, and honesty (“Lost,” “Die4U,” “N/A,” “YOUtopia,” “Dig It,”… pretty much the whole record). His vocals pivot from catchy cleans and riotous screams to the nastiest of deathly bellows. This is some of his most varied work, and it’s impressive how much he pushes himself on this record.
His bandmates operate within a similar wavelength to pull together a chaotic ebb-and-flow of death metal ferocity and pop sensibility, anchored by two decades of experience and an unending artistic fearlessness. Even with the exit of key member Jordan Fish, whose production chops and songwriting acumen helped propel the band across their current trajectory, BMTH feels empowered and hungry. Following in the tradition of Amo, Survival Horror, and Music To…, BMTH once more pulls in a surprising roster of guests — names like Norwegian singer-songwriter Aurora, rapper Lil Uzi Vert, and even veterans of the emo/metalcore scenes, Glassjaw and Underoath, showcasing a continued forward-thinking approach while also mining from the past to compliment Nex Gen’s sonic focus.
‘Focus’ is the keyword here, too. Whereas Post Human: Survival Horror smashed together a disparate smattering of (great) songs and blended them into a chunky chaos smoothie, its sister album marches to a far more concise and controlled beat. Despite almost every track exhibiting some manner of artistic schizophrenia, they achieve a holistic connectivity through the nigh-universality of their sonic makeup.
The only outlier here is the Deftones-infused banger, “Limousine,” whose strong alt-metal posturing feels somewhat disconnected from the whole. The same could potentially be said for the three instrumental cuts: “[ost] dreamseeker”, “[ost] spiritual”, and the aforementioned “[ost] puss.e”. The first is largely dispensable as an intro track, though the latter two find more purpose as fun electronica romps that offer breathing space/setup between their bookends.
Strong pacing, coupled with the band’s unshakeable songwriting prowess and absurdly catchy tunes, makes Nex Gen’s near-hour of music feel like half the time. This culminates in an album with infinite replay value—which I have been abusing heavily.
If it sounds like I don’t have any criticisms, that’s because I don’t. Beyond the superfluous intro, there’s nothing here I would change, no track I would remove, nor remixed order I would have preferred. Every song is gripping, every chorus ear-wormy. Every single that worried me has found a spot among my favorite picks thanks to the context given them as essential parts to the mighty sum.
If anything, I emerged from Nex Gen more shocked than anything. I expected to enjoy the album but did not expect how fast it would propel itself through the ranks of 2024’s offerings and pretty much obliterate everything on my list.
Like Sleep Token’s 2023 masterpiece Take Me Back To Eden, Bring Me The Horizon have crafted a work of such exquisite make that to try and ignore it borders on the impossible… and to consider what might oust it as AotY feels like an exercise in futility. They say you can’t fight the future, after all… and Bring Me The Horizon have just dropped a solid case as to why.
