Bring Me the Horizon - Is the Stigma Necessary?

        

          I'm going to be upfront and say this: I actually really like Bring Me the Horizon. They're juvenile, yes, and not meant to be taken too seriously, but I'm damned if I don't get pumped by listening to them. Depending on who you talk to in the metal/hardcore scene, however, most people will dismiss them contemptuously with anything from 'all their songs sound the same' to 'poser scene girl music' to 'pussy emo f@%^&'. It's safe to say that they're among the most polarized bands of the twenty-first century, and even though their fifteen minutes of fame may be nearing its end, they're nevertheless present in the metal consciousness to this day. Have they been influential? Without a doubt. Do they deserve the undiluted hatred they face from most of the music community? That's a harder question to answer.

           To attempt to answer this question, I dove headfirst into BMTH's complete discography, starting from their first EP, This is What the Edge of Your Seat Was Made For. As someone who got into them only a few years ago, and who'd only really heard their 2010 release There is a Hell, Believe Me, I've Seen It, There is a Heaven, Let's Keep it a Secret (Christ but that's a long name), Edge of Your Seat was a tour de force that showed me the Sheffield quartet's humble origins as nothing even closely resembling a post-hardcore band, but as something closer to the deathcore sound you'd hear today from Chelsea Grin. Breakdowns abound, clean vocals are a myth, and Oliver Sykes' punishing growls are matched by his shrieking highs.

            This was interesting. Deathcore, I knew, originated in the mid-90s primarily in the western United States, with bands like Suffocation leading the charge. But what really caused the deathcore explosion was Arizona's Job for a Cowboy achieving mainstream (well, as mainstream as you can get with screaming) success. The brutal amalgamation of death metal and hardcore punk rapidly became one of the defining 'extreme' movements of the 2000s, similar to how Scandinavian extreme metal bands such as Gorgoroth and Amon Amarth shocked the general public in the 90s.

          The most fascinating thing, however, was that before BMTH, there had been slim to no British deathcore bands. This may very well be because Edge of Your Seat was released in 2005, during the nascent years of the deathcore genre, but even so, the British deathcore scene remains sparse, with BMTH being one of the genre's few holdouts on the other side of the pond.

             The brutal, in-your-face sound of Edge of Your Seat, did, however, have a few drawbacks to it once I got over the general shock of thinking 'Well. These guys made “Blessed with a Curse”.'. The EP, simply enough, was phenomenally repetitive. With few exceptions, the pattern of 'chug chug chug SMALL BREAKDOWN chug chug chug' remained unbroken through all four songs, with only slight variations in time signature. In a genre where it's very easy to have all your music sound the same (Whitechapel, cough cough), this was a trap BMTH unfortunately fell into. Is it forgiveable? Yes. This was the band's first foray into music and their bravery at exploring a completely new genre ought to be praised.

              BMTH's followup album, Count Your Blessings, was an improvement on Edge of Your Seat's shortcomings. Stylistically, the band remained rooted in deathcore, but small differences here and there began to show that the band was not afraid to alter its sound. Breakdowns became more interesting, incorporating squealies and slowly ramping up in intensity. Sporadic melodic breaks (the end of 'Tell Slater not to Wash his Dick') and solos ('Liquor and Love Lost') gave the album a different feel - it felt like the guitarwork began incorporating notes above fret 2. The band toyed with rhythm and wrote a handful of very fun riffs. Possibly the most shocking thing was the short (under two-minute) acoustic break on '15 Fathoms and Counting'. Writing this on a bus from Boston to Philadelphia, this woke me up and I had to check to make sure I was still listening to BMTH.

             With Count Your Blessings, BMTH made clear a very important fact: Bring Me the Horizon is not a band with one defining sound - the band's one defining feature is its complete and utter lack of subtlety. Lyrically, instrumentally, aesthetically, the band has no qualms with saying 'We are a metal band. This is our sound. Deal with it.' It was this damned-if-I-care attitude that drew so many fans in. Metal and punk are, at their core, rebellions. The way we dress, the way we behave, the way we view the world, make us so much different than any other kind of music listener.

There was just one problem: the unrestrained brutality and violence of Count Your Blessings and Edge of Your Seat became an expectation from most of the band's listeners – after all, if it ain't broke, don't fix it, right? That, in and of itself, was the diametric opposite of what the band wanted. 

             And that's why shit really hit the fan with 2008's Suicide Season. Even in the first few seconds of the introductory song 'The Comedown', an electro wobble disrupts the splintering breakdown. The song progresses, and it's clear that the style has been renovated completely. Oliver Sykes' screams are far less frequent – he's adopted a throaty, harsh yell for the verses, reserving his signature growls and screams for breakdowns and choruses. The melodic breaks are gone – we get ambient effects and a lot of the chug that was present on Edge of Your Seat. But, with four more years of experience, the band finds ways of preventing this from getting old, while bringing in new features that dumbfounded listeners completely.

             One of deathcore's defining characteristics, which it adopted from its death metal origins, was an INSANE drum track that keeps the intensity at an all-time high. In Suicide Season, this has been abandoned. The drums are slower and far more rhythmic. It's not as obvious there's a double-kick as it was in Count Your Blessings and before. While deathcore fans exclaimed in disgust at this 'sell-out' move, it was undeniable that the songs became intrinsically more catchy. Listen to 'Chelsea Smile' and I guarantee you'll be singing 'I've got a secret...' for the rest of the day.

Just as well, the band's suddenly healthy use of electronic effects makes Suicide Season a refreshing and (for me, at least) more fun experience. Using electronic effects to hype up a breakdown make it pleasant because you're not expecting it, and I can only imagine how it is live.

             While it's true that the electronic elements detract from the instrumental prowess of the band members, it fundamentally pushes BMTH in the post-hardcore direction. The same complete and utter lack of subtlety still blows strong, but this is an interesting move, since post-hardcore and deathcore fans are, in most cases, mutually exclusive (Compare Dance Gavin Dance with the Acacia Strain. Different, eh?). Did the band expect to lose a healthy chunk of its fanbase? That's unavoidable with any record, but BMTH's biggest mistake with Suicide Season was threefold: firstly, they chose to alienate some of the most hard-to-please and foulmouthed people in the metal scene; secondly, the entire album shows a lyrical shift in a far more negative direction; and thirdly, the band didn't change its sound enough to appease the post-hardcore and metalcore crowd, but enough to anger its old favorites.

              Lyrically, BMTH preserved deathcore's penchant for relentless lyrical fury in Count Your Blessings and Edge of Your Seat. The lyrics were violent, brutal, and, when backed by Sykes' screaming, almost therapeutic in their anger. Suicide Season, however, took on a far more depressing tone lyrically, as Oliver Sykes came out of a bout of serious depression during writing (which would persist into 2010's release of There is a Hell...). There is one song about self-empowerment, which, ironically enough, sounds the most similar to BMTH's earlier material. However, the majority of the songs show a fixation on death and unrequited love. This spontaneous 'emo' move, coupled with an unfortunate interest MTV took in the band during this time, cemented BMTH in Count Your Blessings fans' eyes as posers and sellouts. Simply put: they felt betrayed.

               The final and most grievous mistake was the degree to which they changed their sound. Simply put, BMTH's current sound is too simplistic to qualify as good metalcore, but too soft to remain quality deathcore. And that is why Suicide Season transformed BMTH into an incredibly polarized band – people who sympathized with Sykes' depression viewed Suicide Season as a reflection, and became unerringly loyal to it. On the other hand, ex-fans and newcomers alike were put off by the band's sound, and labels began to fly.

                But I've forgotten the original goal of writing this long-winded post: is the stigma against BMTH justified? Well, the stigma appeared primarily in response to the drastic stylistic change between Count Your Blessings and Suicide Season, as BMTH suddenly found themselves with no common genre to be a part of. Fusion bands will always get a bad rep from purists, who believe that every band should belong to one genre and one alone, but I see this way of thinking as close-minded – if band X belongs to genre Y, and thus must have characteristics A, B, C, then what's the difference between any two bands in genre Y?

                Music today doesn't reward innovation enough – we expect artists to find what they're good at, and god forbid they try anything else. BMTH is a prime example of this – while they're far from a 'perfect' band, they have their own style. And because BMTH floats between genres, purists too set in their ways hear them as an example of anything and think 'they suck' because, fundamentally, Bring Me the Horizon don't really belong to any genre.

               That's my two cents on the matter. If you disagree and decide to flame me, good for you. You must be so proud of yourself.

Pierce the Veil - Collide with the Sky REVIEW

              

                 California’s Pierce the Veil are next in line on the series of Warped Tour participants to be releasing a new album this summer, following Memphis May Fire’s release of Challenger earlier this week and Miss May I’s At Heart two weeks before. Following a two-year hiatus after their previous record Selfish Machines garnered lukewarm press, PTV has nevertheless maintained a loyal following as a pop-punk/emo hybrid band characterized by frontman Vic Fuentes’ high-pitched vocals and rhythmic riffs. With their Spanish-inspired riffs and dissonant instrumentals, PTV remains a unique gem among the dime-a-dozen chug bands and ADTR knockoffs that clog the scene today.

                Their newest release, entitled Collide with the Sky, is the band’s first release with Fearless Records – a label they share with bands such as Blessthefall, Motionless in White, and A Skylit Drive. While little more than a technicality, this switch may have impacted the band more than most will notice. PTV’s sound has evolved, in my opinion, for the far better and become closer to their recordmates’.

                First and foremost, Machines’ calm, rollicky feel has been overturned completely in favor of an energetic, drum-heavy sound not unlike some of the genre’s greats – Shipwreck-era Silverstein springs to mind, along with a little bit of Craig Owens Chiodos. Even the major-heavy instrumentals are gone – the introductory and first track (‘May These Noises Startle You in Your Sleep Tonight’ and ‘Hell Above’)  waste no time, with the introductory track incorporating Fuentes’ vastly improved screams and a full-on breakdown.

                Breakdowns in particular play a far larger role in Collide than in Machines. Not only are they more frequent, but the days of PTV’s bold but ultimately laughable attempt at one in ‘Caraphernelia’ are past.  As said before, coupling this with a handset of great-sounding screams gives the record a tighter, more interesting texture which grants it more replayability than its predecessors. Just as well, Fuentes’ voice has dropped noticeably. One of the first things that strikes anyone listening to PTV in the past has been ‘jeez this guy sounds castrated’, and I have to admit it was arresting on Machines and, in some cases, made the record less serious (I can’t listen to ‘Bulletproof Love’ without rolling my eyes). That’s remedied as Fuentes’ voice improves, and he loses the nasal whine he had throughout most of Machines.

                The overall mood of the record is darker as PTV abandons its pop-punk past and moves into post-hardcore territory, but that’s not to say they find ways of distinguishing themselves. Complex chord progressions, catchy riffs, and even an ear-catching solo now and then ensure that PTV avoids the chug delegation that’s befallen so many bands on the rise. Mild electronic elements (think toned down Attack Attack!) also show up occasionally, but they’re tastefully used and usually serve to hype up a breakdown. Even so, not all ideas work. A Mariachi-styled break on ‘Bulls in the Bronx’ made me do a double take, and I thought it was cool until I realized that it really had no place in the song. Jason Butler’s (Letlive) presence on ‘Tangled in the Great Escape’ makes for a gratingly annoying mix – his voice and PTV’s sound don’t complement one another well. These small experimentations, however, hardly spoil the record, and, despite a mediocre middle, the beginning and end of the record are enjoyable and fun.

                That’s not to say that Collide is a complete success – some holdouts from Machines remain in place. Lyrics overall have improved, but aren’t spectacular, and there’s still a wincingly gushy love ballad or two (‘I’m Low on Gas and you Need a Jacket’ and ‘Stained Glass Eyes and Colorful Tears’).  What gives the album an edge over Machines is that PTV has realized that energetic songs give a record longevity, and has reluctantly abandoned their previous sound to do so. Suffice it to say, combining post-hardcore elements with instrumental complexity makes for a very nice sound – listen to ‘Bottomfeeder’ by Blessthefall for a key example -  and when PTV did this in Machines (‘Besitos’, ‘Caraphernelia’, and ‘Disasterology’), those were the songs I remembered the most.  They’ve discovered what works, and I hope they’ll pursue it as time goes on.

Bottom line, PTV still has quite the career ahead of them, and while they’re learning slowly, they’re learning nevertheless. Collide has been a step in the right direction, and if they continue on this route, their distinctive sound will earn them a place among the genre’s staples.  Collide is an enjoyable ride that’s sure to make Warped Tour all the more fun, and shows clearly that PTV has gone from being just another emo band out of Cali to becoming a force to contend with on the hardcore scene. This is definitely an album you want to check out.
Collide with the Sky will be released on July 17. 

Cameos on the album include Kellin Quinn (Sleeping with Sirens) on ‘King for a Day’ (The record’s strongest), Jason Butler (Letlive) on ‘Tangled in the Great Escape’, and Lindsey Stamey (The Few) on ‘Hold on Till May’.

Listen to 'King for a Day' here: