Oli Sykes, his plethora of tattoos and the rest of the band dish out their new single with the same angst and venom fans of the Sheffield based metalcore outfit have come to expect, while indicating that they may be further developing their sound.
‘Shadow Moses’ opens with an electronic backing and a first taste of the call/answer chorus, before erupting into the aneurism inducing main riff. In the verses and especially the final segment, the heavy riffs and chords are used to great effect. But it is in the chorus that the band show their growing maturity.
The chorus uses a lighter tone and distortion of guitar, with main chords being overlapped with a complementing melody and using a piano to fill out the backing to Sykes’ half-tonal vocals and group response. The development and contrast between verse and chorus holds the strongest point of the song.
Overall ‘Shadow Moses’ is a well-chosen first single. While it isn’t perfect and is perhaps not as memorable as some of their previous songs, it gently introduces fans to the development of Bring Me the Horizon’s signature style, the result being a satisfying lead single.
7/10
