Album of the Week: Bring Me The Horizon - Sempiternal

Sempiternal 
adj

Literary everlasting; eternal

[from Old French sempiternel, from Late Latin sempiternālis, from Latin sempiternus, from semper always + aeternus eternal]

The more you know, right?
I finally bought a physical copy of this piece of brilliance and I couldn't love it more. I had such high expectations on this album and I can gladly say that Bring Me The Horizon fulfilled them all and even put a cherry on top. Starting at the moment you open the CD and take a closer look at the beautiful artwork, over how you read the lyrics while listening until the very last tune ends. 

I assume you already figured out that I could relate to their songs from the last album a lot but Sempiternal provides this on a whole new level. It's full of angry, disappointed and bitter tracks but that doesn't mean they lack honesty. Au contraire, Oli wears his heart on his tongue like never before, he doesn't sugarcoat anything, all you get is the plain truth of a life that doesn't look too bright.
The first song on the record, Can You Feel My Heart, is already one of my favourites. It sounds like Bring Me The Horizon but then again it's different from what we know, at least from what I know. It's about being broken, it's about being tired of basically everything. It's about inner fights, about the darkness around you. ("I'm scared to get close and I hate being alone. I long for that feeling to not feel at all. The higher I get, the lower I'll sink, I can't drown my demons, they know how to swim.") 

I'm skipping the next two songs because they didn't leave as much of an impression on me and directly move to my next favourite: Sleepwalking. 
Have you ever felt how your mind slips through your fingers? How you slowly lose control over your thoughts and there's nothing you can do? How it's like you can't breathe? ("I'm at the edge of the world, where do I go from here? Do I disappear? Edge of the world, should I sink or swim? Or simply disappear?") This is exactly what this song is about. It's like you're sleepwalking, you just walk through the world but you don't know what you're doing.

I'm one hundred percent sure that everybody can relate to the next song: Go To Hell, For Heaven's Sake. I'm one hundred percent sure that all of us have this one person we just can't stand. The person that makes us so angry that we have to leave as soon as they appear because we couldn't handle their presence so we just think: "No one wants to hear you, no one wants to see you, so desperate and pathetic..."

I feel like I have to mention Shadow Moses because it was the first new song they released but honestly I don't really know what to say. I love how Oli screams "This is sempiternal, over and over again and again!" because when you're really angry and you join him, it helps to calm down (try it!).

We're coming closer to the end, the next song was my personal surprise: And The Snakes Start To Sing is slow, Oli sounds tired as if he gave up all hope. In my opinion he's one of the most talented vocalists I know because he always manages to put so much emotion in the songs that you literally adopt them from him. 

Imagine a friendship or relationship with somebody. It's pretty great until you slowly realise that it won't work out. You look at this person and all you have in mind is: "I think we've lost our touch. There's no sparkle in those eyes, what an awful mess I've made, there's nothing left to save." You might love each other but it's just not enough. Now you know what Seen It All Before is dealing with.

The last song I'd like to talk about it also the last song on the record: Hospital For Souls. When I first read the lyrics I was speechless because I suppose this song tells a lot about Oli as a person and I have even more respect for him now. Personally I think that you can only really find a connection to this song if you ever struggled with a mental illness, or still do ("Have you ever took a blade to your wrists? Have you been skipping meals?").

Only then you understand the emptiness which is described in the song, the feeling of being numb and not fearing death anymore because you just don't care anymore. Only then you really understand how lonely you are with your own mind because you push people away and how desperate you want them to just hold you close. 

So, as a conclusion I can only emphasize how much I love this album. Unlike other bands, Bring Me The Horizon didn't disappoint me with their new record but only offer a few more moments for me to escape.