Bring Me the Horizon - Sempiternal (2013)Release ID: 5433
Bring Me the Horizon is kind of an oddball in the rock/metal community. They started as a deathcore band in their first EP and album, then moved on to metalcore in their next two albums. That's not even the oddest part, this is; recently they started shifting to a less aggressive style of rock then make a complete shi(f)t into electropop/hip-hop, going far as to release a long experimental album they prefer calling an EP. There's just one more metalcore album with their later influences, their fourth one Sempiternal!
After building an impressive following with the 3 albums before this, Sempiternal has taken them to higher skies in the metal world while dragging them closer to the pop/rock abyss. Their final album with the original metalcore roots, the band managed to refine it as a last farewell to the genre.
First track "Can You Feel My Heart" already hints at the new plateau the bands just reached in their journey. Vocalist Oli Sykes pours his soul out as he cries out the first verse, "Can you hear the silence? Can you see the dark? Can you fix the broken? Can you feel... Can you feel my heart?!" during an explosion of sonic atmosphere. Then we jump into metalcore hyperspace with "The House of Wolves" that has a catchy refrain. Metalcore once again heeds its call on "Empire (Let Them Sing)".
After the metalcore action of the previous two songs, "Sleepwalking" is more melodic with a beautiful middle bridge painting images with words, "Your eyes are swallowing me. Mirrors start to whisper, shadows start to see. My skin's smothering me. Help me find a way to breathe!" Next track "Go to Hell, for Heaven's Sake" should be making big impact on the radio airwaves with its clever title and the music sounding like the radio-rock of early Linkin Park on metalcore steroids. That song should never go to hell! The epic "Shadow Moses" is a great choice for the album's first single and a true highlight. The verses are aggressive as always, but the infectious chorus would kick you hard in the face, leaving a big footprint. ("Can you see by the look in our eyes? We're going nowhere! We live our lives like we're ready to die. We're going nowhere!")
The band slows down with new territory to explore in "And the Snakes Start to Sing", venturing into the sonic atmosphere of Deftones. "Seen It All Before" has melodic verses and a heavy chorus like you've never heard before. "Antivist" is the angriest song on the album in both the music and lyrics. The band relentlessly stabs their middle finger up the a** of the world. Then it explodes into the fantastic "Crooked Young" that questions religion. The album closes with the 7-minute epic "Hospital for Souls", soaring up to a rising climax. It has some very poetic lyrics including "Everybody wants to go to heaven. But nobody wants to die. I can't fear death, no longer. I've died a thousand times."
Producer Terry Date (Pantera, Soundgarden, Deftones) helps shows the band at its best in Sempiternal, allowing the sonic instrumentation and vocals to be clear without taking away the impact of Bring Me the Horizon's explosive nature. Their last metalcore album, Sempiternal really is what that word means, everlasting for eternity!
Favorites: "Can You Feel My Heart", "Sleepwalking", "Go to Hell, for Heaven's Sake", "Shadow Moses", "Crooked Young", "Hospital for Souls"
