Album review: Bring Me The Horizon – Lo-files

Surprise! Bring Me The Horizon have just snuck a 23-track lo-fi mixtape into your ears like a sneaky download from Limewire in 2004 – minus the virus that destroys your family computer. Lo-files is the most unhinged, genius and weirdly soothing curveball from the Sheffield bruisers yet, and it’s perfect for just chilling out and vibing.

Reworking classics drawn from Sempiternal to last year’s POST HUMAN: NeX Gen, the band have teamed up with some of the biggest and best names in lo-fi sounds. The likes of Casiio, No Spirit, drxnk and Mondo Loops all jump on board to turn some of these pit anthems into zoned-out chill-a-thons that are just as perfect for smashing through coursework as they are for sitting in your dinner jacket puffing on an e-pipe.

Opener canyoufeelmy<3.tmpx is a featherlight reimagining of a former screamer that now feels like you're floating through a sad rave at 2am. The drums tap like rain on glass, while the riff evolves into an ethereal, almost cosmic life force that takes your mind into the clouds.

Elsewhere, [email protected] trades its original ferocity for shimmering ambience, sounding more like the loading screen music from a lost Legend Of Zelda game than a track that normally summons circle-pits. Later, sL33pwalking.idl drifts in like a long-lost lullaby filtered through a dusty VHS tape, while parasite.ev3 pulses with the woozy charm of a late-night taxi ride through a pixelated city, equal parts dreamy and disorienting.

Meanwhile, koolaid.xxo takes the original’s sinister swagger and melts it into a slow-motion sugar crash, pulsating with off-beat synths to give a more upbeat feel. Even the iconic shadowm0ses.frq gets the lo-fi treatment, somehow still sounding like an anthem, albeit now in fuzzy slippers. It all winds down with Throne.GOD, once a full-throttle battle cry, now a drowsy declaration of war whispered from beneath a weighted blanket.

BMTH are never afraid of headed into uncharted waters, but when the songs are good, they’ll sound great no matter the treatment. Here, their raging mosh bangers are the perfect chilled-out tones you never knew you needed.

Verdict: 4/5

For fans of: Casiio, Linkin Park, Ulver

Lo-files is out now via RCA/Sony

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