Bring Me the Horizon – Amo
After ditching the metalcore almost completely on 2015’s critically acclaimed That’s the Spirit, Sheffield’s genre-smashing trailblazers take it a step further on their most ambitious project to date
If the changes to Bring Me the Horizon’s sound heard on 2015's That’s the Spirit was a shock, then buckle your seatbelts because this one is mental. Where TTS swapped invigorated metalcore for arena-worthy anthemic rock, Amo sees that pushed further – transcending into EDM, pop and even grime.
Singles Mantra and Wonderful Life indicated that Amo would display a similar level of heaviness to its predecessor, but that's not the case. The record, for the most part, is vastly unpredictable, from a Prodigy-like collab with pop icon Grimes on Nihilist Blues to the sickly-sweet pop hooks on Medicine and Mother Tongue to the orchestral-rock finale of I Don’t Know What to Say. There’s such a plethora of twists and turns across the album, it should come with a prescription of motion sickness pills.
The title, meaning 'love' in the language of lead vocalist Oli Sykes' Brazilian wife, depicts the blur between adoration and hatred – often contrasted through the album's lyrical content and intensely dark tones. Though it’s not all serious: the piss-taking Heavy Metal shows the band’s self-aware side, as Sykes pokes fun at fans who are critical of their newer sound before delving into a teasing five-second return to their former selves.
The grimy Why You Gotta Kick Me When I’m Down? and slightly generic In the Dark may be slight misfires, and perhaps unlikely to be anyone's favourites, but that’s the point of Amo: it’s here to piss off metalheads, push boundaries and showcase that BMTH are certainly not one-dimensional.
Listen to: Mantra, Sugar Honey Ice & Tea, Heavy Metal