U.K. metalcore and alt-rock band Bring Me The Horizon returned yesterday with “Mantra,” the lead single off the group’s upcoming sixth album amo. The group previewed the song with cult-inspired imagery and wording, sharing posters with the phrase “Do you want to start a cult with me?” and even launching a website bearing a cryptic message:
There are those who will say that only after a lifetime of sacrifice and good doing can the soul be free – that God demands conditions in the freedom and that some have the power of making mankind slaves.
It turns out, this all plays into the theme of the song, with the phrase on the poster being the first line of the song:
Do you wanna start a cult with me?
I’m not vibrating like I ought to be
I need a purpose, I can’t keep surfing
Through this existential misery
The song seems to criticize people who are too willing to follow the crowd and put their faith in things they don’t understand:
You know it’s easy to believe
And I know this doesn’t make a lot of sense
You know you gotta work the corners of your mind now
All I’m asking for’s a little bit of faith
You know it’s easy to, so easy to believe
They’re hardly the first musicians to draw inspiration from cults. Earlier this month, Lil Uzi Vert grabbed headlines for repurposing the artwork for the Heaven’s Gate cult to promote his upcoming album Eternal Atake, while Post Malone’s April track “Jonestown (Interlude)” referenced the tragic People’s Temple Agricultural Project suicides in Guayana.
“This song came very late in the writing process,” vocalist Oliver Sykes told Annie Mac about the band’s new song. “We want to always change what we do and we always want to write something new to change it up, but we also don’t want to alienate everyone that’s joined us along the way and that’s supported us from the start.”
Bring Me the Horizon is set to release its sixth album amo in January 2019, promising a continued evolution from their metal roots towards a more alternative rock sound.
Listen to the song above and read all the lyrics to Bring Me the Horizon’s “Mantra” on Genius now.
