Bring Me The Horizon - amo (Album Review)

"Amo" is the sixth studio album from once-metal band Bring Me The Horizon, and for good or for bad this has become one of the most hyped albums in recent months. Does it live up to the hype? Do the band deliver one of the most "exiting" albums as they promise? Is any of it really any good?

BMTH have been a band for fifteen years at this point and they've gone through some serious sonic shifts throughout their run, in particular these past years. Starting off as a deathmetal outfit, the band pretty quickly shifted to a metalcore style and from that to a more accessible alternative rock and electronic sound found on the previous album, 2015's "That's The Spirit". Although it didn't compare to the eclectic and aggressive "Sempiternal", my favourite BMTH album, "That's The Spirit" proved the band could work with pop music and provide much better quality music than in their deathcore days.

On "Amo", they continue their venture into pop music but let themselves expand and experiment much more than ever before. Whilst this doesn't always work out for the best, it does result in a pretty good album with some impressive accomplishments in pop and in some interesting electronic directions. It manages to be more eclectic than "Sempiternal" in its variety of styles and genres, all whilst keeping to the theme of love in all its forms. Dealing with such a broad topic is somehow what keeps the album together although I almost wish it didn't revolve so heavily around some pretty similar topics as some of the songs end up too generalised and unspecific in their lyrics, something I thought I'd never say about the band.

Bring Me The Horizon have never exactly been lyrical geniuses in their field but there's no doubt that they've always been very personal and detailed, a fact that made them popular with their young, angry, emo fanbase early on and then with critics once their music improved and lyrics sharpened later on. This is not lost on every song but definitely felt on the incredibly generic singles "Medicine" and "Mother Tongue", which gets cringey with lines like "I'm in trouble/I'm sorry, but you got me gushing all over the place", then there's the bridge which you have to actually listen to comprehend just how annoying it is. Even on some of the better tracks there are some questionable moments lyrically, although they never get quite as bad as those on "Mother Tongue".

Instrumentally, the album goes for several different styles all scattered pretty incoherently through the tracklist. We actually get some heavier moments on the singles "Mantra" and "Wonderful Life" and especially on the penultimate track "Heavy Metal", an amusing commentary on the fans criticising the band for selling out and altering their musical style far away from their deathcore roots. Ironically, this song also boasts Bring Me's heaviest breakdown in years and some raging guitars and pounding bass that take centre stage and steal the show, even away from Oli's catchy refrain. This song also boasts an incredible feature from beatboxer Rahzel who adds a lot to the end of the song and makes for a very unexpected asset.

Elsewhere, the more electronic and dancy elements come in strong on "Nihilist Blues". I had huge expectations for this song seeing as it features Grimes and although it was not what I expected at all they manage to pull off a sort of energetic club banger like nothing else they've ever produced. Grimes brings some much-needed edge to the track with a fantastic, genuinely scary verse. Turn this one up and pay attention to all the details because "Nihilist Blues" brings out the best in this new direction and is a very unique, very unusual and very successfully uneasy yet danceable song.

There are a handful of good, catchy tracks that utilise guitars pretty well despite the more electronic vibes and muffled production, including "In The Dark" and "Sugar Honey Ice & Tea", the former dragging on just a bit too much to be a favourite as the looping guitar and bassline seem slightly overdone going into the final chorus; however, the latter is a bit of a blast, managing to pull off the actually quite bad production simply because of the enthused delivery from the band and the occasional great synth moment. Oli's vocals really push the song forward, in the verses at least. Really the pitch-shifting was just unnecessary and unwanted, although it's not as bad as on the interludes where his voice becomes unrecognisable and just sounds robotic and not in a cool way.

"Medicine" and the interludes are pretty rooted in pretty bland synthpop that should really elevate and heighten the tracks more than they do and I'm left very underwhelmed by these moments, particularly when there just aren't good enough lyrics to grab me. In contrast, the rather depressing album closer "I Don't Know What To Say" provides some of the richest instrumentals with orchestral touches and a gorgeous guitar solo that compliments the piece and really sets it apart as something bigger and more important than the other songs, as well as managing to have the best production by far on the whole album. This factor is almost necessary as there's so much going on instrumentally. With bass, guitars, horns, strings and synths the sounds are epic, grandiose and therefore an easy standout on "Amo".

"Why You Gotta Kick Me When I'm Down" has infuriatingly high potential that is completely squandered by muddy, murky production, a trap beat and some cringey half-rapping that does not fit Oli's voice or the band's style. The atmosphere it creates would be enjoyable, especially with the creepy children singing, experimental elements and actually really solid lyrics, but the aforementioned flaws just loom over the song and honestly I find it quite tiresome as a result.

The positives shine through in great guitar riffs, searing synths and some conceptual excellencies whilst the negatives bog down with sludgy production, disappointing melodies and lazy writing. It's not that it's a bad album, but the highlights each seem to have their own drawbacks, in themselves or with other songs bringing them down. Listening through the album I'm pulled in different directions not because of the sonic differences in the tracklist but because of the inconsistency in the quality of those songs. It jumps from a high like "Wonderful Life" to the utterly out of place and redundant interlude "Ouch", or from the pathetic, unoriginal and poppy ballad "Mother Tongue" into the clutches of the intense "Heavy Metal", which is itself overshadowed by the subsequent phenomenal "I Don't Know What To Say", an emotionally wrenching song about a lost dead friend. It seems to me that the songs exploring the darker, more obscure themes of love always exceed the overdone, overplayed and more obvious ones, and there just aren't enough good songs to outweigh the bad and boring. No, it's usually not atrocious or wretched, but both "Mother Tongue" and "Why You Gotta Kick Me When I'm Down" are and we can't just un-exist them, or the three insufferable interludes, despite their removal instantly improving the album. No, I can't just ignore them and pretend they don't exist, besides, my rating has to be a fair representation of how much I enjoy the album by weighing up its highs, lows, impressions, impacts and flows, so after much consideration and contemplation I believe Bring Me The Horizon's sixth album "Amo" deserves a very, very light 6 out of 10. I honestly can't recommend the whole album as a necessary listen, as much as the band try to present it that way, but I can a couple of standouts from it.

Best Songs:
nihilist blues, wonderful life, i don't know what to say

Worst Song/s:
ouch, why you gotta kick me when i'm down, mother tongue

"amo"

Bring Me The Horizon

25/01/2019