Review: Bring Me The Horizon 'That's the Spirit'

* This review was co-written with my mate Tom.

BRING ME THE HORIZON - That's the Spirit (2015, Columbia)

BMTH got us used to controversy, yet this fifth studio album will likely be the most debated move in the band's career. But that's the spirit, innit? Yet, this not-so-radical 'reinvention' had been announced by previous LP Sempiternal (2013, Epitaph), which had initiated the change in BMTH's sound, and confirmed by the sole single released in 2014, Drown. This new track premiered in the tracklist of the band's majestic show for the Live at Wembley DVD.
That's the Spirit came out today 11th September 2015. It was recorded at the Black Rock Studios (Santorini island, Greece) and produced by band members Oli Sykes and Jordan Fish. 

Tracklist:

1. Doomed
2. Happy Song
3. Throne
4. True Friends
5. Follow You
6. What You Need
7. Avalanche
8. Run
9. Drown
10. Blasphemy
11. Oh No

Drown

This record is miles away from debut metalcore album Count your Blessings (2006). The full-on screaming left place to a majority of clean vocals. Not only Oli can sing, but he has proven to improve his singing with the last couple of records. Would it be fair to say that That's the Spirit has more of a pop-rock vibe to it? I do understand the disappointment of their early-fans with regards to the band's new sound. BMTH has simply evolved too much for their liking.

Now, don't get me wrong, I ADORE this album. It is by far my favourite by BMTH and perhaps even of the year. However, it is because I personally don't really like their earlier sound. I am more of an easycore/pop-punk lover than metal. 

Anyway if anyone comes rain on their parade, BMTH got it covered: they brought an umbrella...

Yesterday on Instagram, Oli explained the concept behind this new record:

The shadow describes the part of the psyche that an individual would rather not acknowledge. It contains the denied parts of the self. Since the self contains these aspects, they surface in one way or another. The greatest power comes from having accepted your shadow parts & integrated them as components of your Self. Everyone carries a shadow, & the less it is embodied in the individual’s conscious life, the blacker and denser it is. At all counts, it forms an unconscious snag, thwarting our most well-meant intentions. One does not become enlightened by imagining figures of light, but by making the darkness conscious. This album is a celebration of the darkness, because everything may seem bleak & black on the outside, but inside us all is a world of colour & emotion that we NEED to let take over & not ignore, & that's the long winded explanation for the album concept & the artwork. Let's get this album to no.1 & give a big fuck you to the rest of the world. Go out & pick up a physical copy of #thatsthespirit tomorrow <3

Starting slowly Doomed sets the scene: lyrically on top of the genre, the vibes on guitar build the tension. Jordan's keyboard getting a bigger place amongst the tracks. This song appears to me as a electro sequel of Can you feel my heart.

Happy Song

Happy Song was the second single put out by the band. Incorporating the title of the album, we can hear a powerful song with a strong meaning, being possibly used by many as a self-help song with lines such as But if I sing along a little fucking louder to a happy song, I'll be alright. The 'cheerleading' bit makes it a great song to make the audience participate during a gig.

Throne

Throne's video is inspired by Game Of Thrones (admitted in an interview with Jordan and Matt in Paris for OUI FM in September 2015). Here again, lyrics such as Every wound will shape me, every scar will build my throne could become the fans and emo wannabes' new mantra! This song is my personal favourite, although I have to admit that I struggled to choose one.

True Friends, What You Need and Run return to BMTH's old style with a hint of screamo and guitars making you want to shout the words out loud as to get it all out of your system. True Friend is about betrayal and its lines such as

Cause I'll forget but I'll never forgive you

Don't you know, don't you know?

True friend stab you in the front

are guaranteed to be fans' new post-fight therapeutic anthem. What You Need and Run both got a pop-rock vibe in the verses and a more powerful and louder chorus.

Follow you is a ballad. It's unexpectedly very pop. It wouldn't sound like a BMTH song at all if the lyrics were not so typical BMTH. 

Avalanche is the last track being previewed before the full release of the album and is said to be about Oli's addiction and ADHD. 

Two sentences are making this Tom's favourite track:

I need a cure for me cause a square doesn't fit a circle

Gimme a remedy, cause my head wasn't wired for this world

Drown did not change much since the first version of December 2014, but it is  still nice to hear it back on the album with full production. I remember reading that Oli wrote it to be an 'arena song' and you can judge for yourself here under:

Drown - Live at Wembley DVD

Blasphemy gets a little energy back from the hate-vibe Oli puts in, with a little guitar solo on the bridge and is a nice way to bring the record towards its ending track.

Finally, Oh No is a good finish to a great album, including a saxophone part on the bridge, allowing to build momentum and give a nudge to the last chorus.

From front to back, That's The Spirit definitely found its place the Top 3 favorite albums of 2015 for the both of us! Well placed guitar riffs,  bass and drums setting the beat, keyboards on point, lyrics as dark and poetic as BMTH's got us used to and Oli's powerful voice, altogether create the ultimate rock band we know and love. Introducing, ladies and gents, one of the most influential rock band of our generation, perhaps ready to headline Reading & Leeds next year, it has been recently rumored.

In the meantime, see BMTH live, with some awesome support acts, during their US tour (October):

 and EU tour (November), it has no date in Ireland unfortunately:

WHAT DID YOU THINK OF THAT'S THE SPIRIT AND BMTH CHANGE OF SOUND? LET US KNOW IN THE COMMENTS BELOW.

KEYWEST interview & gig review at the City Spectacular Festival Dublin

KEYWEST, Ireland, Pop-Rock

For fans of: Boyce Avenue, The Calling, The Script, One Republic

Laya Healthcare City Spectacular, the biggest free festival in Dublin city center, was held on Friday 10th to Sunday 12th of July in Merrion Square. In between food trucks, street artists, magicians and child entertainers, word on the street was (if you pardon the pun) that Dublin's very own favourite busking band was performing three sets on Sunday afternoon.

Keywest started out a few years ago performing in the streets of Dublin and Galway. Today, they have 57k likes on Facebook and 25,8k followers on Twitter. If you are a nostalgic, they also have an non-updated MySpace on which you can check out very early videos and photos of the band. And of course they also have an official website.

The lads will be touring the UK and Ireland next November/December for the JOYLAND TOUR.

As the London date on the 20th November is already sold out, an extra date the following night has been added. Not bad at all for the band's first ever tour in the UK. Whilst chatting with Glove (Andrew Glover, rhythm guitar, keys, back vocals), he confirmed to me that further gigs should be announced soon as most of the tickets are gone for all of the shows. 'We did three dates in a row in Dublin last year' he added with a smile.

Glove

Back to the City Spectacular. I did not go to the first of the three gigs, hence I cannot tell you more about it than 'it went well', still according to Glove. The second one kicked off with their last single 'All my mistakes', followed by a cover of TCL's 'Waterfalls'.

Check out 'All my Mistakes' official video

Then during the first notes of 'Beautiful Fool', Andy (Andrew Kavanagh, lead vocals) cheekily suggested 'if you feel the need to clap' to an audience who happily went along. It was followed by a small interlude during which Jimi (James Lock, lead guitar, back vocals) took a picture of the crowd and tweeted it while Andy asked everyone to grab their phone and retweet it.

The next song was a cover of Whitney Houston's famous disco hit 'I wanna dance with somebody'. Before the last tune 'Galileo', Andy gave a shout out to Keywest's biggest fan Shannon, who allegedly follow them everywhere. Sweet of them to acknowledge her!

When the gig was over, the lads stuck around to sell some of their CDs, sign autographs and take photos. Mark (Murray, band manager), who had already been hard at work selling the records during Keywest's set had to hurry them: they were awaited at Today FM for an interview with Phil Cawley and a second live performance of 'All my Mistakes' (they had already played for Today FM between the first and second gig). You can check out a video extract of the performance here with the cutest little girl dancing in front of them, it's adorable!

Andy

As there were still a couple of hours before the next concert, the band members split out to walk around the site. I seized the occasion to grab Andy for a short interview. He told me about the upcoming three albums... That's right! Three! You might already know that their last record All my Mistakes EP came out last April. It is a preview the future full length album Joyland. Yet, another one, Fairgrounds will come out at the same time, that is September, just before the UK/IE tour kick-off. Andy clarified that both will be different albums, 'two sounds', as the former is a studio album whereas the latter has more of a 'street sound'. Joyland will be on all usual music download and streaming platforms, however, Fairgrounds will solely be available on the band's website and during their live performances on tour or in the streets. Both will have twelve tracks and will be produced on the band's own independent label Sonic Realm. Andy even let slip that there are already talks about a third record for 2016. Talking about the future, he revealed that Keywest will be busking in the UK, then Australia next Spring, which is the Winter for them and the high period for the busking bands there. Andy confessed looking forward to hit the Aussie streets as they have 'a great tradition of busking' down under. The goal is obviously to publicise their music outside of the British isles. Busking and independently self-promoting is the way they wish to keep fueling their growth, as Keywest has not been signed by any record label, thereby the need for taking care of the promotion themselves. On this matter, he simply explained that they 'don't get along' with producers.

Personal favourite pic of the day: Sam (Marder, bass)

Time for the third and last gig of the day, starting with a cover of Mumford & Sons's 'I will wait for you', followed by 'Beautiful fool' and 'This is heartbreak' before another Twitter break.

Then came 'Stuck on replay' that Andy announced to have 'written about his ex girlfriend because she is a bitch' and 'Electric Love' which 'is about falling in love with somebody', before a cover of Tupac's 'California Love' and 'All my Mistakes' to top it off.

Had a great afternoon with Keywest! As City Spectacular is a family festival, the place was full of kids and the lads were really sweet with them. Generally speaking, they are really nice with their public, and patiently pose with whoever asks them, admittedly as part of their self-promotion strategy, even though Andy confessed that pictures 'aren't his favourite part'. Ultimately, they do it for the fans. 

Jimi

I encourage you to purchase their records, not only because their music is worth it, but to support this band who decided to stay independent, regardless of their ever expanding success. It is a brave and unusual decision!

I bought their debut full length album The Message, which is a great record! All songs are written by Andy and Glove, although I noticed that Aaron Karmin (The Calling) and Charlie Midnight (Grammy Award winning producer/writter) co-wrote with them on 'Feels so Cruel' and 'On this Train' respectively, which is pretty cool.

Finally, I would like to thank Andy, Glove, Jimi, Sam, Harry (Sullivan, drums) and Mark for letting me hang around and a special shout out to Robbie. Hope to see you all again soon.

If you liked this article, please share it and support this blog by liking Of Bands & Gigs Facebook page and following @ofbandsandgigs on Twitter. Much more music news, reviews and interviews are to come. I have another interview with English Rock'nRoll band The 45s scheduled for the beginning of August. I have been to France last week for the Vieilles Charrues Festival (biggest French music festival headlined this year by Muse. Also present: London Grammar, The Strypes (that I met), Tom Jones, Lionel Richie, The Prodigy...) and will tell you all about it real soon. Upcoming gigs I will attend in the next couple of months include All Time Low, Twenty One Pilots and Bry (Belsonic, UK), Fall out Boy, Imagine Dragons, The Strypes, Little Hours, The Academic, The 45s, Nothing but Thieves, The Mighty Stef, The Hot Sprockets... If you are a band in the Dublin area doing a gig soon or looking to be reviewed, do not hesitate to get in touch!

From top to bottom: Harry - Band during the third gig - Glove

Find all my best pictures of Keywest's afternoon at City Spectacular HERE.

There is a joke hidden in their setlist, can you find it? Let me know in the comments.

The Strypes releases 'Now She's Gone' + shoots 'Get Into It' music + France's gig today + upcoming Tour

Loads of things are going on about The Strypes today!

First of all, the four lads from Cavan (Ireland) released another teaser of their upcoming album LITTLE VICTORIES: a fourth live session. This time it is 'Now She's Gone'.

Pre-order LV on iTunes now and receive a new track ‘Now She’s Gone’ along with the previous three tracks, straight away! You may also get it on vinyl and CD from their official store where there is unfortunately still no merch on sale... C'mon lads! Make us some tees!

So, here is NOW SHE'S GONE:

Released a couple of hours ago, the video has currently already over 3,300 views!

As a reminder, the three previous tracks were:

GET INTO IT

EIGHTY-FOUR

SCUMBAG CITY

The last two were on their three tracks FLAT OUT EP, available on iTunes.

Secondly, everyone's favorite irish Rock'n'Roll band (yes, this must be true by now) have been recently shooting the music video of GET INTO IT, although no release date has been announced. 

As you can see, Irish actor Dave Rawle, best known for starring on Irish sitcom Moone Boy, is in it.

Thirdly, the lads were in Paris today, performing live during prime time (9pm local time, 8pm Irish time) at OÜI FM (free) FESTIVAL. The show is now over but I was able to see most of it streamed live on Dailymotion.com/fr and they did very well. They posted a few pictures of their parisian adventures:

By the way, it's Vive LA France and not LE... Just sayin'.

Finally, do not forget to check out if The Strypes are coming close to you soon, because they are touring in France, the UK, Japan, Spain and of course Ireland until October. Find out all the dates HERE.