Bring Me The Horizon get both fun and bleak on an EP befitting these turbulent times

For years, Bring Me The Horizon have captured the zeitgeist in a way that allows for relish in the ever stewing, turmoil of society. “The sky is falling / it’s fucking boring / I’m going crazy / isolating”, reads the chorus of “Dear Diary”; documenting the drastic shifts in mental well-being many of us experienced during the early days of lockdown. “Parasite Eve” takes us a month or so later, where the desperate realisation that we may never learn from this; “When we forget the infection / will we remember the lesson?”, hangs in the air.

A satirical despair often makes Bring Me The Horizon stand out from their contemporaries. Take, “Obey with YUNGBLUD”. Lyrically it is sweet,“Obey / We hope you have a lovely day”, but it is YUNGBLUD and Oliver Sykes’ sinister delivery, over the chugging, Mario Kart rapidity of the chorus, that accentuates this essential irony that is needed to get through tough times. This continues in “Teardrops” where Sykes completely revels in disaster; “Everything is so fucked”. Where leaders continue to fluster, it has made BMTH’s already existing abhorrence of conformity, a hell of a lot more fiery.

It isn’t all doom and gloom however. With excellent guest spots from Babymetal and Nova Twins, “Kingslayer” and “1x1”, flaunts the band’s nurtured creative instincts, whilst paying homage to earlier sounds with comforting riffs that reach new mountainous heights. Last year’s, “Ludens” also makes a hearty appearance, eerily foreshadowing the events of the months that followed it’s release; “How do I form a connection / when we can’t even shake hands”, with mighty breakdowns that may even appease the oldest fans.

Bring Me The Horizon is a band that you can rely on for a constantly evolving output and whilst, POST HUMAN: SURVIVAL HORROR doesn’t exactly diverge away from what the band were developing on last year’s amo, it does capture the bewildering phenomenon that is living through a worldwide pandemic. It is as fun as it is bleak - think Taylor Swift at the helm of a funeral march in the year 2666 and you’ve got yourself a dreamy, yet chilling vision of the future: classic BMTH.