Bring Me the Horizon started as a metalcore group (think Converge, all black attire and leg tattoos), but have morphed into modern purveyors of shouty, I’m-mad-at-you-mom nu-metal. Lead singer Oli Sykes has talked about how That’s the Spirit is a “celebration of depression”, but tellingly he’s also discussed the importance of writing “bangers”; using a term more usually associated with EDM makes sense for a band who use electronics and a sound that mixes metal with modern dance music’s loud, clean, crunching impact. Lead single Drown epitomises their approach, coming in with an eardrum-perforating wall of sound, while Happy Song is anything but, with its blunt ruminations on depression (“We’re all fucked in the head”) layered over riffs and children’s chanting. Oh No is more dance than nu-metal, replete with trance breakdown. If BMTH really do want to bring nu-metal back to life, this approach could be just the defibrillator they need.
