#no heavy except for a couple BMTH songs?

[crowcaws]

It makes me really sad to see all the hate Lizzo got for placing so high on the Hottest 100 yesterday. Like yeah she's pop and she's not Australian but she's my emotional support pop artist ok? She did more during the 2019 bushfires than our actual Prime Minister at the time did. She sacrificed a lot of money to cancel shows and personally stood at an evacuation centre helping distribute food to displaced people. Scott Morrison was in Hawaii. As far as I'm concerned Lizzo was my PM for that term, I'll revise history all I like if it means she gets to be there.

Anyway congrats Lizzo on being voted #7 🖤

[thats-the-teen-spirit]

Top 10 songs of 2022, reviewed by yours truly

10, Artificial Suicide by Bad Omens

I was pretty late for the new Bad Omens album hype but this song has always been in rotation since the album release in February. The rest of the album is pretty good as well, but this song stands out for me because of heaviness and the lyrical theme. Bad Omens are one of the bands nowadays that dare to change without faking it. Amazing song.

9. Miracle by A Day To Remember

I'm one of those elder emos who remember the biggest hype around ADTR around 2014 or so. I always considered Homesick as one of the greatest albums of all time and after their last album, You're Welcome, I was just as disappointed as everyone else. Thankfully being an Imagine Dragons cover band didn't last long. They came back with this single with probably one of my favorite breakdowns of the year. Completely unexpected but very well done.

8. Techno Train by Electric Callboy

German metalcore band Electric Callboy had a pretty busy year. First they tried to apply to the Eurovision song contest with their song 'Pump It' that brought a lot of new fans to the band, but ultimately got rejected because of their old name and old lyrical themes that, needless to say would be 100% cancelled today. Because of this rejection and because they realized they're here to entertain, not offend, they changed their name. Then they put out bangers after bangers with schlager turned deathcore song 'Hurricane', a collab with Conquer Divide called 'Fuckboi', and a song about being a Spaceman with a german verse I don't even understand. Then they released their album Tekkno which is arguably one of the best overall records of the year. This song however stands out just because of the lyrical ridiculousness. The CHOO-CHOO-CHOO in the breakdown is the thing this year that never fails to make me laugh. 100% banger.

7. The King And Queen of Gasoline by Hot Milk

British pop punk duo hot milk has been on my radar for a couple years now but with their new EP they got a place in my heart for sure. This song in particular is so catchy, that after a single listen it got stuck in my head for days. I couldn't figure out what it was but then I realized and it hit me. The verse, the guitar riff and the chorus are all so unforgettable that there's no way someone forgets them in this century after a couple listens. The lyrics are as emo as ever, which of course were also appealing to me. Their earlier song that I really love is 'I Think I Hate Myself' which has major Welcome To The Black Parade vibes in its bridge and its solo, which I thought was worth mentioning since that also come out recently before this EP. Both are amazing songs by an amazing band.

6. Masterpiece by Motionless In White

Some people in the metalcore community always judge MIW for being a Breaking Benjamin turned goth cover band and, well, they're not entirely wrong. Chris Motionless has absolutely been heavily influenced by Benjamin Burley's vocal takes as every clean chorus he writes, could be on either Phobia or Dear Agony by the aforementioned band. Masterpiece though is not just a BB cover, it's also a masterpiece. It brought the band a place as nr. 1. on the Mainstream Rock Airplay, being their biggest achievement since 2013. They absolutely deserve it, as the song and the whole album works greatly as a getaway drug to metalcore and metal in general. MIW, BMTH, Bad Omens and Architects are absolutely today's Linkin Parks and Slipknots as far as spreading heavy music goes.

5. The Foundations of Decay by My Chemical Romance

This song was the biggest surprise release of the year for me. Not just because we haven't got a new official release from the band in nearly a decade (except the rerelease of The Black Parade and Fake Your Death from their best of album), but because the song really really differs from the last official album of MCR. Danger Days was almost a pop record with bangers all around and TFOD compared to this is like a completely different band, reminiscing on the eras way before The Black Parade, their most successful record yet. The production of this song is the only questionable thing about it, the vocals are really low-mixed, the guitars however are as punk and grungy as it gets. It even has a breakdown. Very nice surprise from Gerard and the boys.

4. Strangers by Bring Me The Horizon

Whoever knows me knows that I'm a huge fan of BMTH. I love everything they've done from amo to Count Your Blessings. They're the only band in the scene that dictate the current style of metalcore writing and producing. The songwriting duo of Jordan Fish and Oli Sykes is unquestionably one of the best at ther job in the past like 20 years, they can do whatever the fuck they want to do with music and people are gonna enjoy it. With the Post Human EP series they celebrate genres they love and pay homage to them by mixing them with their own style. This is what happened in their last EP, Survival Horror as well. Back then they chose NU metal for the style. Right now in this album cycle this style is emo. With both singles heavily influenced by emo bands, Strangers stood out for me because of the unexpected 6/8 time signature. Brings me back to the good old days with Brand New and Taking Back Sunday on repeat.

3. Anabolic Spudsman (thique edition) by Bilmuri feat Will Ramos and Spencer Stewart

This song is probably the most random entry on this list. I'm very surprised Bilmuri is not mentioned as one of the most innovative bands of the scene right now. This song is so unexpected and fun that I can't even categorize it in a genre. Or multiple. This song is all over the place. It has a really catchy verse and pop-ish vibes, well, except the current king of deathore himself Will Ramos is serving his time as the backing vocalist in the meanwhile. The chorus would fit in a Billboard Nr. 1. song, it's that poppy. Then around 2 minutes the breakdown hits, Will screams our butts off, aaaand we're back to the pop vocals for the rest of the bridge. Then the biggest surprise, a fucking saxophone solo. This song is amazingly unexpected, well-written and all over the place, I love it.

2. Call Me Little Sunshine by Ghost

Yes I have to mention Ghost. Impera was released in March and was on repeat for me for the rest of the year. The first single Call Me Little Sunshine was never skipped. The guitar riff reminded me of their song Cirice, the lyrical theme of course was about Satan, who else, and the production was raised to the next level by Papa and the Ghouls. The live version featuring the Ghoulettes' backing vocals is even better than the album edit. The rest of the album is great as well, honorable mentions are Spillways, Respite on the Spitalfields and Kaiserion. With this easy to play doomy song they showed that there's still that edge in them despite growing more popular with each release (Looking at you tiktokers listening to Mary On A Cross).

Pain Remains (I-II-III) by Lorna Shore

Technically my first place is 3 songs in one. This is gonna be the longest song review so bare with me. Lorna Shore has been around for a while with multiple vocalist and several other member changes. They never stood out for me from the crowd, as I've never been the biggest deathcore fan myself. But I have to admit, the whole record Pain Remains singlehandedly saved deathcore overnight for me. Obviously they needed a charismatic new frontman, a couple of catchy symphonic elements (which were always there but were left ignored by me for some reason) and reaction channels and tiktok hyping up their upcoming album. When the first Pain Remains was released, I thought I was witnessing history being written. It was a freaking deathcore ballad, with more genuine emotions than the When We Were Young festival's whole lineup. The videos are also well made and tell a story about a man losing his lover which causes him to go down on a depressive spiral, ultimately ending his own life. The trilogy has also several callbacks to itself. Dancing Like Flames' fire comes back in the third act, In A Sea Of FIre as the fire that burns down our protagonist's house and life with all of his memories about his love. The most disturbing one is the second act, After All That I've Done, I Disappear, where he tries to end his own life right next to his wife's casket after her funeral, but failing in the end. The first 2 songs have solved the whole genre's only problem for me, which was the lack of emotion and genuineness. The raw emotion in the 'A World Without You Is Not Meant For Me' scream has me shivering every time I hear it. They made a truly amazing record with Pain Remains and I really hope they continue to do so with similar projects in the future.

[lunatiquecat]

[Bring Me The Horizon ‘amo’] part two . There are a number of tracks that sound rather familiar if you enjoyed ‘That’s the Spirit’. To name a couple, ‘MANTRA’ and ‘wonderful life’ come in as expected minus the surprising feature from Dani Filth on the latter. The production nailed kick drum tone and these tracks indicate that pretty damn well. . They also didn’t hesitate to try full on hipster electronic style this time. Yup, they went all the way with ‘in the dark’, ‘nihilist blues’, and ‘why you gotta kick me when i’m down’ equipped with heavy refusal to the mainstream ‘trap & bass’ ingredients. . Then they turn around and embrace the other side of the mainstream pop. The melody, the occasional four kicks on the floor, and the vocal chops, which is sort of all over the place throughout the album, and it is as tasty as that of ‘Being As an Ocean’. . On that note, ‘Mother Tongue’ will shock you in the heart. If you enjoyed the 2000s pop rock/punk music, this and ‘medicine’ will be my top recommendations. Despite some newer and popular elements, the chorus and the melody brought my young heart back. ‘medicine’ is my favourite track. Never mind the indie dance intro, it is still BMTH :) . I want to end this with a friendly negativity. On the Apple Music review, Oli sounded very excited about the diversity and crossing over genres. They indeed made the album impossible to label, but they always have, especially since ‘There Is a Hell Believe Me...’. Just because they had post hardcore drums, guitar and screaming vocal, did they get away with merely saying ‘the new BMTH’, but it wasn’t good enough of an explanation of what went down in that album which is in fact my favourite even though ‘Sempiternal’ took a harder turn. To me, ‘amo’ is a good old BMTH exploring as always except the band went much further and much much more obvious this time. Answering the last song of the album ‘amo’, they were never not new. For devil’s sake, it’s Bring Me The Horizon. We all friggin’ knew. That’s what ‘I’ had to say.

[thats-the-teen-spirit]

Bring Me The Horizon - amo album review

I’ve been a fan of BMTH since the late-There is a hell era and obviously they surprised me once again. I’m gonna go song by song on the album because each of the songs have something in them that differs from the one before.

i apologize if you feel something, the first track is already a lot more different than the previous BMTH albums. It begins as a typical intro with long silences between the melody. Then Oli starts to sing on a really high pitched poppy autotuned voice. You can hear no instruments whatsoever except the synth that plays the melody. Then it changes to this ambient style that somehow suits the band’s music but feels awkward without the guitar and drums. When I first heard this song I already realized it was nothing special, just a little intro that might hype up the crowd before they start performing.

MANTRA, the first single of the album is a little less heavy than the That’s The Spirit era songs. A lot less heavy if you think about how Oli’s vocal style changed since 2015. It finally has drums and heavily distorted low tuned guitar and even screams in the background but it still feels like an alternative rock song just because of the verses and the high pitched bridge. The guitar riff is banging, the chorus is catchy, not a bad song afterall but it will still disappoint the old fans of the band.

nihilist blues is definitely the weirdest song on the record. It’s basically a trance/europop song that divides the listeners to two types: the first one would say: what the fuck is this shit, i’m not listening to this album anymore, and the second one would be: wow they’re brave as hell for doing this, I’m looking forward for the rest. I’m not a big expert on europop or trance or whatever electronic music genres there are but it really reminded me of an Armin van Buuren beat and apparently they copied a little from a relatively new Evanescence song as well. Grimes is featured in the song and her vocal style fits it really well. It has a creepy feeling that makes the song feel like you’re in a club full of drug addicts and the only thing left for you to survive is becoming an addict (for the music). Personally I think probably something like this was on the band’s mind when they wrote this. You definitely won’t like this one unless you like electronic music. You can hear the drums and guitars in it (they’re playing the electronic distorted thing with a tremolo pedal probably) but it’s barely recognizable.

in the dark, the next song has a really strange feeling. It sounds like a pop song because of the samples it uses but it still has the guitar (both clean and distorted) that reminded me of Doomed from the previous album. Both the guitars and the vocals are catchy as hell and after the first few listens you can hear what was the point of writing this song, here that “gateway band” thing begins that Oli mentions in a lot of his recent interviews. They want to be a gateway band that shows people the grand spectrum of music from electronic to heavy metal (or metalcore if you’re a genre-nazi) and do the same thing that Linkin Park or Limp Bizkit did for popularizing the crossover of rap and hip-hop and screamy, heavy rock music. It has the same experiencing feeling that got me into Linkin Park and even tho the song and its lyrics are kinda forgettable, the intention is clear and I personally like it a lot.

wonderful life, the second single of the album is without a doubt one of the heaviest ones on it. The intro seems like a classic BMTH style guitar intro with a little less distortion and a really weird, progressive time signature (for my ear at least). The main riff is simple, heavy and you can definitely bang you head to it. The chorus is catchy, the lyrics are relatable for the emo kids, it has a squealing scream from Dani Filth, which makes it seem like the metalcore days are creeping on the band. The outro chorus reminded me of their song ‘Oh No” from the previous record just because it’s so monumental but maybe that’s just me.

ouch is a cheap interlude in my opinion. It’s not even 2 minutes, the samples get boring in the end. It has a drum and bass kind of feeling to it. It reminded me of Cure For The Itch by Linkin Park, just because of the placement and the “drum” beats on it. The nanana thing that goes on in the chorus also gets boring really quickly. The lyrics are about Oli’s ex-wife Hannah Snowdon and it has a nice throwback to their 2015 song, Follow You with the “under your spell” lines, and it’s clear that he left that time behind with this song.

medicine, the song with the weird-ass video is the next one on the album. If you haven’t heard a single BMTH song in your life and you’re into the more pop-ish side of alternative you’ll probably say: holy shit this is a banger. The first couple of lines in the chorus are really far-fetched in my opinion, it’s the “we’re edgy and cool kids” vibe that is either cringy or makes you feel like the band got old and they still want to appeal to teenagers and young adults. The message of the song is the same as the previous one. The melody of the chorus and the vocals overall are not that bad, they’re catchy, but just like the intro of the album, it still misses the guitars, although this one has some really quiet clean guitars in the background. It’s clear that the vocals are in the focus and it’s stressed by shoving autotuned Oli’s voice down our throat.

sugar, honey, ice and tea is one of my favorites off the album without a doubt. The riff is heavy, the song still feels like an alternative rock song but this time the guitar tone for me seemed like an old HIM song that’s mixed with a That’s the spirit era beat, lyrics and melody. It has the same feeling when I heard Happy Song for the first time but this one has a Throne-like chorus with the samples going instead of Oli’s voice. In the outro Oli goes crazy and lets out Count Your Blessings-era styled screams which definitely help the song appeal to older fans. It’s gonna be played at concerts for sure.

why you gotta kick me when i’m down, oh boy where do i begin. Imagine Post Malone writing a song for a no name alternative rock band. Add overdistorted guitars and a mumble rap beat and lyrics. You’re done, you get this song. It shifts genres so fast that it seems like Oli went from ‘Lil Sykes’ and back to himself a couple times in just 4 minutes. It’s not a terrible song but if you don’t like the style of modern soundcloud rappers and the whole mumble rap mixed with guitars thing you’re gonna hate this one. 

fresh bruises, after the mumble rap song the boys in the band were probably like: hmmm what’s the next popular thing in 2019 that has nothing to do with rock. That’s right:”lo-fi hiphop for sleeping and studying” radios. The lyrics are only 2 lines, the beat gets faster but it’s still boring, even for an interlude. Definitely the most forgettable song in the album.

mother tongue, is the last single before the album came out. It’s the most honest love song from Oli that he’s probably ever gonna write. For personal reasons right now I can relate to it but if you can’t, you’re gonna forget this song even after a couple of listens. It has a powerful chorus, a radio friendly pop beat, cute ass lyrics and the most important thing: it has the potential to infect the radio stations and get the band even more recognition. The chord progression is really popular, (has the same chords as Africa by Toto), the vocals (with the help of autotune) are great. It has the Follow You vibes all over again but here you get an impression of a happy Oli Sykes that is in a fulfilling relationship and has a stable mental state. This progression is really respectable even if you don’t like the song itself.

heavy metal is my most favorite track from the record. It’s basically a huge “fuck you” to the oldest fans who only play Medusa and Pray for Plagues on repeat to this day, 13 years after their release. It’s got that middle finger in the lyrics that makes you think: damn this band really wanted a change and nothing can stop them. The song made me feel like Meteora days Linkin Park once again because of its beatbox styled bridge and the dropped, heavy guitars. This song shows the new direction of the band once and for all: they wanna make all types of music for both new AND old fans (listen to the last couple of seconds for the Pray for Plagues style vocals from Oli) but still says that nope we’re not gonna change, we grew up, we still like our old songs but you’re not gonna hear them from us because we’re different people now. Big props to the band to be this brave and say: this shit ain’t heavy metal.

i don’t know what to say, the last song on the record for me seemed really off topic from the album until I read what it’s written about. It’s about a friend of Oli who passed away from cancer. Oli didn’t write a song posthomously but the lyrics make it seem like he did. The song itself would sound like an 80′s power ballad from a classic rock band for me if I wouldn’t notice Oli’s vocals and the modern drum beat at some places. It even has a damned guitar solo, an acoustic guitar throughout, and orchestra. (which again reminded me Oh No, the closing track of That’s The Spirit) The song is forgettable for me, even though the message is really touching and meaningful. For a closing track it’s good but since it’s really different from the rest of the album it seems that they only put this song on just to honor that friend that it’s written about.

The album is one of the weirdest concepts I’ve heard from any rock band since A Thousand Suns by Linkin Park. The band put their heart and soul in it, you can tell by the level of production. On some songs it’s really well executed, others seem cheap and boring. My summary is that old BMTH is dead, they’re still gonna play rock music as they did with their previous records but they’re gonna expand and experiment to other directions, making it as progressive as possible just to keep the music entertaining.