BRING ME THE HORIZON - THATS THE SPIRIT

Doomed
Blasphemy
Oh No
Happy Song
Throne
True Friends
Follow You
What You Need
Avalanche
Run
Drown (New)

The 2013 release Sempiternal saw the English decibel pushers more or less obliterating their deathcore past with a soaring set of aggro-alt-rock anthems that were as darkly lush as they were emotionally punishing. That's the Spirit, Bring Me the Horizon's fifth studio long-player, completes that sea change by incorporating more electronic elements into the mix and moving even closer to the mainstream via a bevy of meaty, melodic hooks and fist-pumping, stadium-ready choruses that invoke names like Linkin Park, Avenged Sevenfold, 30 Seconds to Mars, and even late-'90s Metallica. What they haven't left behind is the generalist angst, as evidenced by second-hand embarrassment-inducing gems like "True friends stab you in the front" and "My heart's a hieroglyph, it talks in tongues," but Bring Me the Horizon's penchant for wallowing in social dystopia is tempered by their newfound proclivity for dabbling in big, unabashed pop pageantry.