Bring Me The Horizon are going to get a tonne of shit for this album; but they don’t care, and nor should you. The opening track ÔÇÿDoomed’ sets the tone nicely and frames the album’s pop sensibility, whilst retaining Bring Me’s bite. Yes, this is very much a pop-orientated album, which will shock people. Where the four absolutely monolithic singles, ÔÇÿDrown’, ÔÇÿHappy Song’, ÔÇÿThrone’ and ÔÇÿTrue Friends’ represent a slight shift in the classic Bring Me tone, the album tracks on ÔÇÿThat’s The Spirit’ are a significant departure from the metal band of old.

After the relatively front-loaded section of singles fades out and ÔÇÿFollow You’ tunes in, you’d be forgiven for thinking Ellie Goulding had hi-jacked the stereo. But that shouldn’t take away from its execution, which, after an initial shock, is brilliant. The remaining album tracks follow a similar pattern, albeit not quite as drastic as ÔÇÿFollow You’. ÔÇÿWhat You Need’ and ÔÇÿRun’ continue at a steady mid-tempo pace with clean vocals that were once an alien concept to frontman, Oli Sykes. These choruses maintain anthemic qualities, albeit not to the extent that the tried and tested festival monsters, ÔÇÿHappy Song’ and ÔÇÿThrone’ do.

Although their radical change in sound will be what gains Bring Me The Horizon an army of fans on this album cycle, it will also be a tipping point for some pre-existing ones. However, it would be wrong to condemn Bring Me for the new direction and the band quite rightly make no apology for it. After all, you only need to listen to the arc of their last two albums, ÔÇÿThere Is A HellÔǪ’ and ÔÇÿSempiternal’, to understand that it’s been in the works for while. You can hear this is still a Bring Me The Horizon album and it’s a hugely brave one, as you’d expect. It’s a Bring Me The Horizon album for the masses. ÔÇÿThat’s The Spirit’ will be the launchpad to send Bring Me The Horizon stratospheric.

JACK GLASSCOCK