The EP opens it curtains ferociously with the drumming really taking control of the song, the frontman Oli Sykes singing an entery to his dairy about 2020 so passionately. With lyrics talking about isolation and God being a fuckhead, the opener shows the EP’s intentions clearly. The drive of the song is the strongest element, with the guitars not doing anything that exciting as it’s simply going along for the ride, yet the song is a bold start to the project. Sadly, ‘Parasite Eve’ that comes next, just feels so cliched and uninteresting. The song touches on COVID, which is great to listen out for, though the music itself is bland and filled with the tricks we have heard again and again by the band.
‘Teardrops’ is more than a nod to Linkin Park, it its a progression of the nu-metal genre that really surprised me when listening for the first time. The synth beat sounds of the first moments is classic, the guitars then kick with such great diction and the rhythm of the whole song is infectious. The chorus dropping is epic and there is a great sense of grit but still accessible nature to the melody, which really helps the listener get on board with what is being sung. Then the joy of the middle eight, that again is nu-metal to the max, but it has the great balance of nodding to the past while still being its own independent piece of work.
When the song and feature was announced, lots of people were screaming about YUNGBLUD singing alongside the band, though others were curious to see if he could truly match Bring Me The Horizon on ‘Obey’. Oli begins the track with a lot of dedication and is on form, it gives the song a great start and the chorus is incredibly catchy. It feels like a glitch with the mix when YUNGBLUD arrives after the first chorus, maybe to ease him nicely but he does extremely well and fits with song entirely. The guitars sound crisp and feel alive, it really shines aggressively on the song. What is important to note is the subtle nuances of the feature within the melody, it is impressive how they pulled the collaboration off with YUNGBLUD who seemed to enjoy being taken along for the ride.
Honestly there is a lot of fun in the deathcore and kawaii metal elements of ‘Kingslayer’ that features BABYPINK. Vocally, Ole sounds tremendous and the Korean Girlband fit in so well amongst it, the piercing synths alongside the girls just gives even more of a bad arse nature to their feature. Overall the song is conducted in such a cool way, having the catchy lyrics from BABYPINK and then the sheer hell on earth tone by Bring Me The Horizon.
What is stressful for me with BMTH, is the inconsistency and it is still present on this body of work that I do enjoy. Yes many people will just revel in when the band nail it and thats fair game; yet I want these guys to really hit a home run for a full album and something shorter with this EP, it is a huge shame we hit such a blip at this stage of ‘POST HUMAN’. The feature of Nova Twins is solid on ‘1x1’, while on ‘Ludens’….. I am left sitting here thinking, how is this interesting and fun to go through the motions in such a mundane way. Also the melody feels ripped off from Sam Sparrow back in 2007 and does sound painful alongside the vocal delivery.
To conclude, we have ‘One Day The Only Butterflies Will Be On Our Chest’. The marching style feels like we are looking to what is next for the world and coping with COVID-19, it is a fantastic tone to finish off. Amy Lee begins with the song so dramatically and sings about ‘why’d you keep fucking it up?’ and questioning how we have allowed ourselves to get into such a mess, when we know it was always possible. The production is done really well, minus the mix to Ole’s vocals; I wish it felt more cracking like instead of having such clarity. The song enters a more haunting sound that is highly effective, and what a way to close the whole thing. ‘POST HUMAN’ as a whole has its flaws that appear too much from the band, throughout their career, but there are some incredible highlights amongst that, which will impress outsiders like myself.
written by Tom Bedding (@bringmethemusic_)
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