Bring Me The Horizon - POST HUMAN: NeX GEn
I was going to make a joke about how the next installment should be called "POST HUMAN: HoT TOpic" but that would've been too obvious. Oh well.
So funny enough, this is my first BMTH album experience and given the range of reception they've recieve throughout their two decade career, I really had no idea what to expect from this new project. I regret slipping by their previous album, as on POST HUMAN: SURVIVAL HORROR, the band pushed through the metal core boundaries and expanded it with elements of pop-punk and digital hardcore, all within a half hour runtime. I've heard mixed things about the project as a whole but the main consensus around that project was that it seemed the band was getting their act back together, placing the hard, blistering metal breakdowns at the forefront of the project and using other elements outside the genre to enhance their sound for the new decade. But I was never given a taste of anything from that project, therefore, I'm entering this series late and completely blind. Would the band do enough on this record to engage me emotionally towards their "newish" alternative metal style? Would they change things up about their production to keep me along for the ride and surprise me at every turn? And most importantly, will it make me return for more?
The answers to those questions are yes, sort of, and no, not really.
I think this album is a lot to take in, from the metal breakdowns, to the obvious digital tie ins on the post-production end, to much of the crooning vocal passages from frontman Oli Sykes. The problem is, with all of these elements in play and the band introducing things to surprise the audience during their journey, nothing on this album feels balanced. But that doesn't mean that every idea is a ruined one from the jump, in fact, I think some of these tracks could be some of the best in the pop-metal genre if they weren't so mismatched with all other elements surrounding it. I'll argue that in the case of NeX GEn, the band does just enough to never keep me bored from what they're trying to accomplish, albeit, they're doing the bare minimum.
Even though I wasn't bored listening to this from front to back, thank goodness because that was my main fear going into this, I felt my enjoyment waning down during the progression of each track. I love that the band is using this new series as a way to explore and excavate newer soundscapes to better influence and nuance their tight sound and bandmanship. Hell, I would rather hear more metal groups that are on the same commercial status that BMTH is on do similar things with their sound so it doesn't read off as run-of-the-mill alternative metal meant for the radio.
But in this case, I believe that the experimentation and the bridging of styles will work for most die-hard fans of the group, but for someone who is new to the band, they really could have gone harder by keeping their songwriting, knack for melodies, and camaraderie at its tightest form, without having their trademark vision dulled down by cheesy aftereffects, distracting glitches within the mix, and pitched up vocals that draw me back from the core of these songs. It honestly makes me wonder if this album was supposed to be another re-hash of SURVIVAL HORROR because I know for a fact that the combination of styles can come off much cleaner for the band, but on this new album, they struggle to maintain what elements take the most prominence per track. When I say this album is unfocused, it doesn't take me away from the narrative the band tires to create, but it does put a hurdle in my way from enjoying these tracks to the fullest.
The album is also front-loaded, to a point where I believe the first few songs and a couple of other highlights would've fit better for the band if this project were another EP. But with these strong ideas including the downtrodden, apocalyptic writing on YOUtopia, the catchy melodies and kick ass chorus found over Kool-Aid, and the mixture of instrumental heaviness and catharsis on Top 10 staTues tHat CriEd bloOd, are all great editions to the album and do an effective job at setting up the albums lyrical and sonic mission statement; conveying the same emotional weight of their expanding catalogue while making things fresh and intriguing for long-time fans. And on this first set of tracks, we get that and at a really high-quality bar. But over the album's 55 minutes, the progression of the tracks begins to slog for me, resulting in me being more mixed on the band than ever before.
The mixing of elements from digital hardcore music, synth passages and electronic percussion hits, and pitched up vocal reminiscent of golden-age hyperpop is unbalanced and the tightness of these styles clenching onto each other only begins to loosen. On LosT, the song at the core is a decent foray into pop-metal but nothing groundbreaking for the genre, but when the hardcore breaks and over processed, high-mixed, pitched up enter the song, it begins to lose its identity. It honestly reads as the band not knowing how to direct a certain idea and trying to figure that out in real time. Meanwhile while they're trying to figure what works and what doesn't for the song, the band always finds another way to ruin a completely decent idea, from the weak writing and generic performance from Oli, to the incredibly obnoxious "I think I'm boutta break down" towards the bridge. Or on DIE4u, where the band is stuck between making a dreary, love-filled powerballad and a hardcore digitized-metal experience, the disarray between the elements clashing between each other dulls down the edge to the core material.
When they aren't trying to manage the mixture of ideas between each song, they are turning directly to their influences to see if something good can be matched by their sound. The first section of LiMOusIne reads as pure Deftones worship to a point where I'm distracted from the emotional meaning of the song. They could be doing something different with their sound for sure, but when they run thin on their experimental boundaries and don't know how to effectively put a coherent, original song together, I believe worshiping their idols was the cheap route to go and one that doesn't yield the best results. Like if their trying to push the boundaries of how far commercial metal can reach, why would they be ripping off Incubus vocal leads on a bulleT w/ my namE on? Or on n/A where the main performance sounds like something Chester Bennington would do in the latter Linkin Park albums? If they really wanted to make this album as heavy as they present it, they wouldn't be re-hashing ideas that their cohorts have done better. They're not fully annoying by any means, but for a group that has been making music for two decades, we could've expected more originality throughout these songs.
This album isn't the weakest thing I've heard from the commercial metal field, believe me, there are a litany of groups doing it more generically than this one currently. But for my first taste with a BMTH album, for a series that gives them the authority to combine their style however they please, I would be remiss if I didn't say I expected more cleaner melodies, consistently stronger writing, better vocal performances from Sykes and the features, and a more focused combination of elements so that each risk is as effective as the one proceeding it. I do want to revisit this album soon, as well as the rest of their catalogue, as I believe that these boys have some fresh and forward-thinking ideas within their arsenal. Maybe with more context, my opinion on this new album will shift. But as it stands, this album could have used more of a coherent sonic vision that works in favor of the band and adds consistency among these tracks. Let's hope they pull it off on the next installment.
FAVORITES: YOUtopia, Kool-Aid, Top 10 staTues tHat CriEd bloOd, amEN!, sTraNgeRs
LEAST FAVORITE: Limousine
5.5/10
