Music to listen to~dance to~blaze to~pray to~feed to~sleep to~talk to~grind to~trip to~breathe to~help to~hurt to~scroll to~roll to~love to~hate to~learn Too~plot to~play to~be to~feel to~breed to~sweat to~dream to~hide to~live to~die to~GO TO

In the late 2010s, U.K. metalcore act Bring Me the Horizon began their evolution away from the sound that made them famous with mainstream pop hits That's the Spirit and Amo. The latter album, issued in early 2019, featured the starkest departure from their early scream-heavy style, incorporating hip-hop beats, atmospheric electronic breaks, and even a touching ballad. The band closed the year with a companion EP, the cheekily titled Music to Listen To… Intended as proper background music to a litany of youthful activities noted in the full title, the experimental set stretches eight tracks over an hour of twists and turns, Auto-Tuned-voices and electro beats, dropping various Amo moments like easter eggs in a movie. "I apologize if you feel something" is threaded through the trippy, ten-minute opener "Steal Something," an extension of Amo's spacy interludes. Halsey joins the boys for "¿," a trip-hoppy, drum'n'bass spin on "In the Dark," while the haunting "A Devastating Liberation" is set to the apocalyptic tune of "Why You Gotta Kick Me When I'm Down?" in a fashion reminiscent of Trent Reznor & Atticus Ross' score work. Indeed, if Bring Me the Horizon ever decide to expand their, well, horizons, film, television, and video game soundtracks would not be beyond their reach. In addition to pop star Halsey, additional guests include Bexey and Lotus Eater ("Underground Big [HEADFULOFHYENA]"), Happyalone ("Like Seeing Spiders Running Riot on Your Lover's Grave"), U.K. rock act Yonaka ("Tapes"), and frontman Oli Sykes' wife Alissa Salls performing as Toriel ("Dead Dolphin Sounds…"). As the tracks bleed one into the next, there isn't much here to grasp onto, outside of big moments that suddenly swell up and devour listeners. Music to Listen To… is more for the mood, the pure experimentation of the project, and serves as further evidence of the band's threat to never release a proper album again. By no means essential listening for casual fans, Music to Listen To… is a gift to the diehards who have stuck by the band throughout their artistic evolution. This soundtrack to life might also become an important (in hindsight) moment in Bring Me the Horizon's catalog, a clear demarcation of when their style truly shifted for good.