Album: That's the Spirit (2015)
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Songfacts®:

  • This is the opening track of That's The Spirit. Frontman Oli Sykes explained to Kerrang!: "We wanted to open with something that made it clear that this record isn't anything you've heard from us before. We explored ideas out of our comfort zone, and ended up with this crazy instrumental track, which we had no idea what to do with. In the final push, when we were at our wits' end, we finally cracked it."
  • Sykes explained the lyrical content: "It's about how most of the time my life feels like this unmanageable monster that I can't keep at bay," he said. "There's the lyric, 'The Devil told me, no room for cheats. I thought I sold my soul, but he kept the receipt', which is me getting a second chance - even though it seemed like I had a death wish. Rather than trying to fight these demons, I should embrace them."

    "I think that, secretly, I find depression romantic," Sykes continued, "it's almost like this euphoric sadness that cleanses your mind if you just let it happen, and that's what the album is all about: celebrating the darkness."
  • The burden of melancholy is a prevalent theme on That's the Spirit. Keyboardist Jordan Fish explained to Rolling Stone that even when life is going well, there's sometimes a nagging sadness that's hard to shake. "I think most people have that," he said. "It's a slightly incomplete feeling that's always there, and that comes from real life. Everyone has their own issues and anxieties, and mostly the new songs are about accepting them and trying to remain positive because there's nothing else you can do."
  • This song originally had a different title. Jordan Fish told Kerrang: "Doomed was originally going to be called What A State. But the whole track changed, so we decided that the name should change with it too. There's a little fun fact for you! These words are actually still in there, if you listen closely to the songs, you can hear a quiet 'what a state' in between each of the verses. And that's me you're hearing!"
  • Speaking in a 2019 Kerrang interview, Jordan Fish said this was the hardest Bring Me the Horizon track to write to date. "We stressed about it for ages and I felt like I'd failed, because we'd dedicated so much time to it," the keyboardist said. "We couldn't get the chorus right and we were so frustrated we thought the song was dead. When we finally got it right it was such a relief. I'm pleased we didn't settle for second best with that one."

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