Bring Me The Horizon - Parasite Eve

8.6Overall Score

Lyrics9

Vocals9

Musicianship8

Emotion9

Consistency8

Bring Me The Horizon, Parasite Eve
Sony Music Entertainment

Please remain calm – the end has arrived. Steel City’s own Bring Me The Horizon are back with a thriving quarantine anthem. Parasite Eve is part of Bring Me’s ambitious Post Human project, a string of tracks imploring humankind to better themselves. The single is a prowling beast, darkly addressing those in the future – when we forget the infection, will we remember the lesson? And, with a gentle sprinkling of Oli Sykes’ iconic screams, it’s fair to say that Parasite Eve packs a punch, imploring everyone to heed its message.

Parasite Eve masterfully creates a sense of unease; amo embraced different sonic textures, and it seems like Post Human is going to be no different. Opening with an eerie, echoing mantra, the track is immediately unsettling, before abruptly cutting to a bass-y, thumping soundscape that pulsates throughout your skull. The chorus is even entirely different, with an uncredited voice that sounds remarkably like Poppy, creepily detached and ominously light. The music video only adds to the track’s unsettling sound, with is hectic visuals, gory masks and animalistic movements. The overall effect is brilliant, sonically and visually reflecting how the current pandemic feels, and the resulting anxieties felt globally as a result.

The lyrical content is obviously also spot-on. While lyrics like ‘I’ve got a fever, don’t breathe on me… Hope I don’t sneeze, I don’t *AAACHOO*’ may sound a bit too on-the-nose on paper, Sykes’ delivery perfectly conveys the serious nature of the words and their implications. The highly topical inclusion of ‘you can’t keep washing your hands of this shit anymore’ is enough to arouse a smirk but, again, is also delivered in a way that makes it hit home. A line that old fans are sure to love is one that mirrors It Never Ends; the classic line ‘you say this is suicide, I say this is a war’ is reflected when Sykes screams ‘don’t call it a warning, this is a war’. There are obvious implications here linking ignorance to suicide, condemning those who will go on to ignore the ‘lessons’ quarantine should have taught us. The overall effect, as well as the raw, screaming vocal delivery, is fiercely raw and emotive.

Considering this track was not originally brainstormed with Covid in mind… it’s scary how relevant it is. Delivered with absolute class, Bring Me have proven that they still know how to deliver a good old ‘fuck you’ to those that deserve it. Parasite Eve truly feels like a cry for our survival, a terrified soundtrack of the (possible) end. This is a track that you’re guaranteed to feel in your stomach, whether you want it to or not.

Stream Parasite Eve here.