Why 'amo' is still so good

Bring Me The Horizon released their sixth studio album 'amo' back on the 25th of January this year and despite some backlash from old-time fans who hated the new sound (which is completely understandable) it was met with high praise from critics and reached number 1 in the UK chart a week after it was released. I personally loved it from first listen, and said it would be the best album of 2019. Four months later I'm still saying it, and I'm very confident that I'll still be saying it at the end of the year. Despite the countless new releases I've heard since January, I still listen to 'amo' in full at least once a week and never get tired of it, but I can't completely put my finger on what makes it so good.

I think my main attraction towards it that it's just so different from everything else I've ever heard, not just from Bring Me, but from every other album I've listened to as well. I think the genre-bending in a lot of the tracks is one of the main reasons for this, the fusion of pop, rock, electronic sounds, and also the occasional orchestral moment and some beatboxing on one of the tracks makes for an incredibly refreshing and exciting album where upon first listen, you are unsure what direction the next song will take. I also love how self-aware the album is, every time Bring Me release something (especially with the last three albums) they manage to piss a lot of people off, and this time it's really clear to see that they couldn't give a fuck and are just making the music they want to make.

When discussing songs individually, the stand-outs on the album for me have to be 'sugar honey ice & tea', 'heavy metal', and 'why you gotta kick me when I'm down'. These three, along with 'MANTRA' are probably the most heavy on the album (although that doesn't really mean much) and are also the most 'arena worthy' songs in the traditional sense (I say that as I feel like the softer moments of the album definitely have the potential sound but for quieter moments in a set). I completely understand the criticism surrounding the singles 'mother tongue' and 'medicine' as being typical 'radio-friendly' songs, and coincidentally those two are some of my least favourites on the album, but I don't dislike them at all and rarely skip them when they come on. I also get that the release of 'MANTRA' as the first single may have left fans feeling misled by what the true tone of the album would be, but I feel like that was a very tactical move by Bring Me, and the release of a tune like 'medicine' as the first single would've alienated some fans very early on.

One thing I would change about this album is the number of interludes (I guess that's what you'd call them), but the only one I'd remove is 'fresh bruises' as I don't think it adds anything to the album at all. I also wish they'd play a few more of the songs live, and that the ones they're choosing to play maybe aren't the best, I wish they'd play 'heavy metal' and 'sugar honey ice & tea' (hopefully they will this summer?) instead of 'in the dark' (as funny as this performance was, it was pretty bad and they probably could've played something else better).

Basically I absolutely love this album and although my favourite Bring Me The Horizon song isn't on it, I would say it's my favourite album of theirs. I'm insanely excited for everything they do next, especially since Oli's pretty much recovered his vocals now and I wish I was seeing them at All Points East later this month as I think it will be an amazing show.