[8/10]
‘Drown’ is the new single from Sheffield’s own Bring Me The Horizon, which has been teased by the band for the past two weeks and was originally set for release on December 7th but due to overwhelming demand and pre-sales has been gifted to the world early.
It is clear even from the beginning of the song how much Bring Me The Horizon have changed their style dramatically over the course of their career. Branching away from the metal sound they are famed for, the song contrasts soft, mellow parts with a big coming together of the guitars, drums and keyboards, which utilizes the singing chorus voice used across Sempiternal. Frontman Oli Sykes relies less on his distinguishable screams and instead harnesses what seems to now be a fully polished singing voice, which is credit to the hard work that he has put in. The guitar hook is reminiscent of one of their previous singles ‘Sleepwalking’, and carries the same sort of structure to the song too.
The song feels a lot rockier than anything they’ve previously done, which is bound to annoy a part of their fanbase who preferred their heavy-hitting metal sound that when looked back on has slowly been faded out of their work. The technical and chaotic instrumentals of Count Your Blessings are long gone, and the simplistic guitar parts which adjourn this track would unnecessarily complicate the song.
The band will get a lot of stick for their change in sound, but bands evolve over time and ‘Drown’ is a much more accessible song to the wider audience and will help to pull in even more fans, which is not a bad thing. But if you look past all of the arguments that can be made against the change in sound, the song is a brilliant example of the power and emotion that Bring Me The Horizon bring to their music. It is catchy and carries the same aura around it that any of their songs do, and although it’s difficult for me to judge as I am a fan of anything that they release, ‘Drown’ is a big song and given time, any angry fan will come around and learn to love it.
