Review Summary: A unique sound, genuine craft, consistent tone. A huge step forward for this band.
Bring Me the Horizon, a metalcore quintet from Sheffield, Yorkshire, has spent the course of their career trying to define themselves. Through the course of their first three full-length albums, they've had inconsistency while trying to be more than a cookie-cutter metalcore suit. With "Sempiternal", it's a step up in terms of musicianship and maturity. You can write them off as a "Warped Tour warrior" kind of band, whose fan base is predominantly teenagers. But take a look under the hood, and you'll find this album has so much depth and emotion, it's almost frightening.
Lead-off single and album opener "Can You Feel My Heart" utilizes ambient electronics to great effect. It sets the lyrical tone for this record, which showcases a regretful Oliver Sykes. With lyrics like "Forgive me father, I love you mother" and "Can you fix the broken" finds Sykes asking the listener if they can comprehend the pessimistic feelings he has. This group is very somber all throughout with their lyrics, with songs like "Sleepwalking" explaining that Sykes feels claustrophobic and out of place with the rest of the old. If you're still writing off the group as an angst-riddled band for teenagers whose members have never matured, these tracks are the definition of maturity. You can say they're whining all you want, when really, these regretful lyrics are so indicative of what all of us can and do experience at least once.
"Sleepwalking", sees the group's musicians perpetuate a straight-forward assault of the listener as Sykes pours his heart out ("Fell into another hole again/It's like I'm sleepwalking.") "Shadow Moses" is another evident example of the electronically tinged touch this record holds to its merit. The lyrical content on this track may be familiar to you at this point ("We're going nowhere!/We live our lives like we're ready to die."), though in terms of conception, follows a similar blueprint as the majority of the tracks that coincide with it. On both "Sleepwalking" and "Shadow Moses", Sykes showcases his vocal repertoire, which isn't just limited to the harsh screams the listener has come to expect from Bring Me the Horizon.
"And the Snakes Start to Sing" is easily the most somber track on the album. It starts with the electronic influence again surfacing complementing what appears to be a distorted acoustic guitar. Interpretations of what that may be aside, Sykes' voice is more on the crooning side with this track. Lyrically, another dark cloud forms ("I've lost a part of me/Tell your friends to sharpen their teeth./And my soul's a sorry state.") Sykes tells the listener to let the powers that be come at him with all they have, as Sykes is no longer afraid. This theme of fearlessness is so indicative of the album altogether. Sykes is not only regretful of his life prior to this record, he isn't afraid to admit his faults. Sykes brings up a valid message with this track - we should be judged by who we are now, not by who we used to be. Go ahead and say I'm sounding very clichéd here, but I'd be lying if I said otherwise. Seeing as Sykes had a brief stint in rehabilitation, it's not surprising to see him share his experience through song.
"Seen it All Before" is another heavy hitter in terms of musicality. Lyrically, it's more than personable and somber, it's actually very well written. That's not to say the other tracks aren't, because they are. But this track more so than the others mentioned is penned to perfection ("I don't want to do this by myself/I don't want to live like a broken record.") The group brings another up-tempo shot of adrenaline to the track "Antivist", a track that Sykes has admitted is written in reference to the controversy that surfaced when the group's former guitarist Jona Weinhofen left the band. ("There will be no peace without revolution/No war without blood.") Sykes and crew come off as very clear in their disappointment and frustration with Weinhofen's departure and the way in which it happened.
This stellar full-length effort closes with "Crooked Young" and "Hospital for Souls", both of which close the album with a vicious and brutal tone being the center of these tracks' conception. The album overall is outstanding. These tracks individually and collectively blend together in near flawless fashion. Swinging for the fences and for more substance than style, the harsh vocals of Oli Sykes are at the forefront of this somber and aggressive record. These songs allow the band to get more than just a few words in edgewise, and the musicianship allows them to walk the talk, so to speak. Here's to even more improvement with this group's future discography, though for the time being, let this record stand as a benchmark for where they've been and for what comes next.
