Bring Me the Horizon, ‘There is A Hell, Believe Me I’ve Seen It. There Is a Heaven. Let’s Keep It a Secret’ — New Album
Bring Me the Horizon's new album, 'There Is a Hell, Believe Me I've Seen It. There Is a Heaven, Let's Keep It A Secret,' is certainly a mouthful. The album is out Oct. 5 via Epitaph, and the music certainly lives up to the epic title, which sounds like it could have been lifted from some literary source. But it actually came from the U.K. band's mind before even a note of music was penned. The band is known for its relentless neo-grind assault on the senses, but BMTH didn't fear experimenting this time out.
"No, it's not from something literary," vocalist Oli Sykes told Noisecreep, shedding light on the concept. "The album title was actually written before any of the music or lyrics were written. It's a conceptual album title about heaven and hell. Rather than being a place where you go when you die or a place where you're punished, it's more about the feeling inside that consumes all of us. Everyone has their dark days and the blessful days, so it's all about battling with those two emotions and the struggle between the two."
It's intriguing subject matter, and Sykes continued, "Everyone has their dark days and the blessful days, so it's all about battling with those two emotions and the struggle between the two. I feel people worry too much about what is above and below that they actually miss what is going on right in front of them. The darkness that everyone goes through. That's hell."
Sykes also feels that BMTH "really pushed the boat out with this album, so I really want to see what people think." He's also looking forward to "playing it live and also getting it out there! Everyone hearing it and knowing the words."
By "pushing the boat out," the band headed in an experimental direction with 'There Is a Hell ...' by infusing their sound with more electronica elements and pretty much refusing to play it safe. Sykes said the band experimented "in pretty much every way that we could possibly do it. We all like different kinds of music, and we wanted to put that into this album without it being weird. We're not going to throw some hip-hop or some dubstep into the album, but we'll take some influences from that and see what works. The most noticeable thing I guess is the level of electronica, which we really stepped up on this album. Apart from 'Suicide Season,' we don't really have any previous experience with electronica, so I suppose that was pretty experimental."
The album has a few guest vocalists, among them Canadian electro pop starlet Lights and the Chariot's Josh Scoggins. Since BMTH recorded in Sweden, e-mail swapping occurred with the other vocalists, while Lights "did her stuff when I was just finishing vocals in LA. She happened to be in town and my manager rang her and asked if she wanted to be on the record. The rest is history!"
'There Is a Hell, Believe Me I've Seen It. There Is a Heaven, Let's Keep It a Secret' track list
1. 'Crucify Me'
2. 'Anthem'
3. 'It Never Ends'
4. 'F---'
5. 'Don't Go'
6. 'Home Sweet Hole'
7. 'Alligator Blood'
8. 'Visions'
9. 'Blacklist'
10. 'Memorial'
11. 'Blessed With a Curse'
12. 'Fox and the Wolf'