Album Review: Bring Me The Horizon - Sempiternal

When Bring Me The Horizon first exploded onto the metalcore scene, the band were brash, fast and angry. Real angry. 2010's There Is A Hell… brought with it a line-up change with Jona Weinhofen (I Killed The Prom Queen) tagging along on guitar. It was an intriguing development as it gave the band the credibility that they needed to push through the third album blues. And that album was nothing short of insanely well written and performed. This brings us to Sempiternal, an album full of 'stock' guitar riffs and an overall sound that is far too glossy and over-produced, effectively sucking the life out of some lacklustre and unimaginative songs.

Opening with the synth-heavy Can You Feel My Heart, the album wanders aimlessly through slow, ballad-like songs, with little emphasis on what captured the hearts and minds of fans the world over: brutal guitar lines and vocalist Ollie Sykes' attempts at trying to inject some life into the songs. However, fans would be pleased to know that whilst the band has mellowed out, this album does sit amongst its contemporaries, the guys have grown and have searched for more substance within the songwriting process.

A band people love to hate, BMTH appear to have run out of creative juices on album number four, and it's not just that the songs are mainly mid-tempo; the band have no groove, and when they're chunking out stock guitar riffs. There's little soul evident on this record. Here's hoping they redeem themselves on album number five.