In hindsight, almost any Bring Me The Horizon fan should have seen it coming. The seismic stylistic shift between 2013’s Sempiternal and 2015’s That’s The Spirit, though only 2.5 years apart, was signaled by the single release of “Drown”. A track that contained none of Oliver Sykes’ screaming, instead opting for a more pop-oriented side of the band, was the catalyst for an album that eventually went Gold in the USA.
Commercially, it was the band’s most successful album to date. No doubt fueled by big singles like “Throne” (which is the band’s most-streamed song on Spotify to date at 185 million), the anthemic “Avalanche”, and the big choruses of “True Friends” and “Happy Song”, the album saw the band touring progressively bigger stages across the world, routinely earning top billing on major festival lineups as well.
While it was a major genre leap to be sure, it’s not like That’s The Spirit is a full-on pop record or anything. In fact, it has more in common with the big choruses of arena rock (not necessarily in style, but in hooks) than anything else. Seriously, listen to “Throne” and then Linkin Park’s “Faint” back to back – there’s a lot of influence there in terms of song structure.
