Post Human: NeX GEn
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BRING ME THE HORIZON – POST HUMAN: NEX GEN – ALBUM REVIEW
The twists and turns in the road to releasing ‘Post Human: NeX GEn’ have been plentiful for Bring Me The Horizon. Since the first release of the Post Human series, ‘Post Human: Survival Horror’, arrived in 2020 the group have solidified themselves as one of the biggest bands in the world, headlining arenas, stadiums and festivals all over the globe.
Behind all that success however has been a narrative that not all is well in house Horizon and the late notice delay in releasing this new collection has been followed by nine months of uncertainty and the shock departure of creative whiz Jordan Fish. Midnight however brought another shock for fans as the band surprised everyone with the unannounced delivery of ‘Post Human: NeX GEn’!
So after all this time, how does the album stack up? Well the tracklist features sixteen tracks and interludes which run to over fifty-five minutes so the first cliff note is that this is a substantial offering.
The second note is that the song titles and their retro Myspace-esque capitalisations are going to test our autocorrect as we run through this review! Highlights on the naming convention front include ‘Top 10 staTues tHat CriEd bloOd’ and ‘a bulleT w/ my namE On’.
WATCH THE VIDEO FOR ‘a bullet w/ my name on’
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Another key note before diving in is that the trend of Bring Me The Horizon collaborating with artists continues at pace with AURORA, Underoath, Lil Uzi Vert and Daryl Palumbo of Glassjaw all contributing. The final pre-note for reference is that the departed Fish is still credited on seven of these tracks, so his fingerprints still remain intact even after his exit.
Now then, ‘[ost] dreamseeker’ introduces fans to the first new track ‘YOUtopia’ which is our first Fish-less glimpse of new Bring Me The Horizon. The track does however include a credit for the equally esteemed Dan Lancaster who has worked with the band previously and is a current live member of Muse. It’s perhaps not a shock then that the song instantly indicates that the aesthetic of recent singles remain intact.
Speaking of recent singles, ‘Kool-Aid’ follows and is the first of six already released songs on this album dating back to 2021’s ‘DiE4u’! The decision to include all these singles is interesting and likely done for completeness. Come the end of the near hour of music however you do slightly feel a few of these could’ve been left off to make this collection more succinct.
WATCH THE VIDEO FOR ‘DiE4u’
As with all of these past singles, the newer tracks here draw more from the poppier side of the group whilst still going hard. They don’t align sonically with the heavy hitting ‘Post Human: Survival Horror’ tracks, although frontman Oli Sykes does state that thematically “It’s a real concept album, with a full narrative that connects to the first record, but the concept is hidden and buried,” before adding, “Some people aren’t going to be interested, but for some people it could be like a self-help book. There’s a lot of things in there, some of it’s quite clear, but a lot of it cryptic and hidden. People are gonna have to work it out.”
It will be interesting to see if the Post Human concept continues beyond this release, particularly given the time lapse and line-up changes since its inception. You also suspect that this release won’t have the same impact on their career trajectory as its predecessor.
That’s largely because the band have already achieved top tier status and this record certainly doesn’t change that. Indeed it shows that despite their issues and their already prolific release history, they still have plenty left to offer.
There is a giant sense of relief that ‘Post Human: NeX GEn’ is finally out and that the band can now move on. The album is again a smorgasbord of influences and gives of real retro 2000’s vibes whilst maintaining that signature modernisation that only Bring Me The Horizon seem to be able to pull off.
Upon ending with ‘DIg It’, it’s actually hard to look back and pinpoint any real standout moments, probably due to the pre-familiarisation with the singles. That said, there isn’t anything bad here either and the album certainly provides an absorbing listening experience; which is exactly what you should do now – go and listen for yourself!
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