The 15-year veterans are more dynamic than ever.
When Bring Me The Horizon’s frontman Oli Sykes decided the band would completely change things up for their sixth studio album, he wasn’t joking. Every experience, every high and low across the UK hardcore outfit’s 15-year career has culminated to this point – a head-splitting orgasm of breakdowns, R&B-laced metal, electro-grime and a wickedly unabashed new album they’ve lovingly named, amo.
In his grumbling Sheffield accent, Sykes, a man of few words when it comes to pleasantries, serves up word salad when it comes to discussing Bring Me’s approach to conceiving their new baby.
Sykes has a lot of comparisons to make to 2015’s That’s the Spirit, breaking down everything about that release, from the band’s attitude, their ambition, to their songwriting approach. That’s the Spirit was, as Skyes puts it, the record that gave Bring Me the confidence to make something like amo.
“We’ve obviously changed our sound a lot over the years but we’ve always wanted to go completely left and do something different,” says Sykes, “But I guess we felt like we were still growing as a band and we had to get people on board with what we do.”
Bring Me have at times experienced something of an identity crisis when they’ve put out new music. amo’s predecessor, for example, was the album that caused a greater din internally for Sykes, and in fan commentary. “People were talking about our band in a different way – were we festival headliners? Were we the next big thing? We’d been a band for 15 years so that was the first time people had thought of the band as something else to what we thought we were.”
“When you hear That’s the Spirit it’s like yeah we are that band. We set out to write 11 bangers, you know? As much as I love That’s the Spirit, there are songs on that album we never play live or didn’t release as a single.
“But I think this time with this album we said we weren’t gonna compromise. Six minutes, no limits, no fear of people tearing down the door or whatever. Whatever we feel like doing we do. That’s the huge difference in this album.”
As is pretty routine by this point for Bring Me The Horizon, in doing whatever the heck they feel like hasn’t been done without backlash from fans. Bring Me have switched up their sound more times than the average bloke changes his underwear in a week, but ultimately, they’ve been pretty clever.
amo doesn’t just boast the traditional elements of heavy metal but is rather a cocktail flavoured with EDM, tones of R&B and a splash of reggae here and there. Bring Me The Horizon have been dexterous in how they extend their audience by blending together all these elements and now that amo is done and ready, Sykes is glad he gave himself permission to expand his horizons.
“There’s no second guessing to what we’re doing,” he says. “Even if this record falls flat on its face, this is the record we could write if we were pushing ourselves to write the best album to our ability and that’s what we want.
“I couldn’t change our logo. Even if it’s out of fashion or redundant, I will never change that logo. It’s always been like that for me, I’m like, ‘Why the fuck do people make albums and they literally start the same way?’ To me, I never want to write an album that lives that way.”
Though he speaks with confidence about an unwavering belief in the band’s identity, Sykes says there’s still no avoiding the backlash and disappointment from fans when Bring Me do stir the pot. Sykes is adamant, however, that what Bring Me do is only for the enjoyment of the people.
“We’ve gone on a journey as a band in our career and I think it’s amazing we have fans that are so passionate about what we do that they argue about which of our albums are the best … I think that’s amazing people can have that discussion. It’s up for debate but it’s not the same album every time. I think we’re feeling comfortable writing lyrics that express ourselves in an ironic way.”
Though everyone will ultimately dissect Sykes’ work one way or another, each album Bring Me The Horizon have released has been a marker for a particular moment in their professional and personal path. If Sykes were to call amo his most significant and favourite work to date, it’s because he feels he’s pushed himself to be better and different than he was before. “Not just different but it has to make the one before sound a bit basic,” he says.
“Feeling like we have the freedom to do what we like on this record, even if people are saying we’re not as heavy anymore, not feeling like we have to speak to anyone in particular or stay in a lane.”
Once amo gets its claws into you after your second or third listen, Sykes is sure it will fast become a favourite because that’s the same way his favourite releases have worked with him. “Underwhelming, too heavy, too abstract; it starts creeping into me and I don’t know why but when I write music like that, it takes me over. It’s got layers you don’t understand but it’s almost like the surprise is that the music you were so sure wasn’t for you, it ends up holding a special place in albums you love.”
Bring Me The Horizon’s sixth studio album, – amo, is out Friday January 25 via Sony/RCA Records. The British outfit come to Rod Laver Arena on Saturday April 13. Head to Ticketek to grab your tickets.
