In a recent chat with Variety, Oli Sykes, the lead singer of Bring Me The Horizon, spilled the beans about their latest album ‘Post Human: NeX GEn.’ He brought up two of their previous albums, ‘Amo’ and ‘That’s The Spirit,’ calling them flawless. But now, Sykes seems to be over the whole idea of making a ‘perfect’ album:
“With ‘Amo’ and That’s the Spirit,’ we were really trying to make the biggest, cleanest, most polished, produced rock album. And over the last few years, I’ve been really bored with that — it’s not impressive anymore.”
He also talked about what’s more crucial for him in an album:
“To make something that feels natural and like art is so much more important to me. Even recording on a crappy mic and having sound spill from the headphones, and using the first raw take even if we have to pitch it to heck because I didn’t sing it very well but it has emotion in it — all these things I’ve felt for a long time. This was the album where I thought, ‘I’m going to actually listen to that part of my brain that keeps saying that, and I’m going to really enforce it this time. I don’t care if it’s a [lo-fi] MP3.’”
‘Amo’ Was A Tough Nut
The band dropped ‘Amo’ back in 2019.
Although this album brought a lot of variety to the table, Sykes confessed it was a real uphill battle, stating:
“We couldn’t do that again.”
Recorded in Los Angeles and co-produced by Sykes and former BMTH keyboardist Jordan Fish, it stands out as their most diverse album. It features guest appearances from the likes of Grimes, Cradle Of Filth’s Dani Filth, and former The Roots rapper Rahzel.
Even though the album snagged the number one spot in the UK and Australia and hit number 14 in America, Sykes admitted it was no walk in the park to make. He elaborated:
“I’m really proud of that record, but it was a slog – a real ball-ache. Maybe that’s because we forced ourselves into making an album that wasn’t based on anything that we could do easily. We couldn’t do that again. You spend a year-and-a-bit making a record, people listen to it in 45 minutes and then they’re like, ‘Alright, what’s next?’ It’s like with a Netflix series – you watch all eight episodes in one go and it’s over. It doesn’t last.”
If you’re curious, you can check out their new album below.
