I might be sad that POST HUMAN 2 got pushed back to a summer release, or that Jordan Fish is no longer in the band, but I am definitely not sad about this new single to tide us by. Kool-Aid is the newest and one of the most promising releases for this album cycle, what might be their band fully back in the swing of things.
Kool-Aid is the song that embodies the hype of POST HUMAN the most so far: encapsulating every aspect of their sound while sounding incredibly cohesive. While the previous releases showed the potential of their future emo sound, this song is the one that has really combined it with their existing array of sounds.
I love the punkiness of the intro and first verse, I love how it intersects with the pop modernity of clap sound effects and the "yes" "no" cheers. It transitions so smoothly to the chorus, which is probably one of their best choruses for this album so far. The switching between the gritty singing and the falsetto scratches an itch for me, and I love that I can hear That's The Spirit coming through. He does even more falsettos as embellishments on the final chorus and I love it.
That first breakdown is sheer whiplash, oh my god. Those screams? Insane. Production makes it so sharp it could cut me through the speakers. Going from that high to that low also makes my heavy metal heart so happy, as short as it is. The main breakdown is definitely super fun as well, I love how cheeky the build-up is with the background vocal stuff and choir going on. The breakdown itself also has a chant at the back and glitchy vocal production, that second half with the slide-up slide-down riff is so cool and I absolutely love how carefree they are with throwing in that solo at the end. They do bring back that first breakdown at the end, but it sounds so different with no vocals and pure chunk, that final line also makes me go feral.
That little extra bit at the end is pretty playful, and I like that they added it because it's fun, but it also does remind me that this album cycle so far has been collaboratively stacked. I would imagine that the voice message was to either Zakk or Daidai, both of whom have been helping with the production work, and it's so cool to see them both play a big role in their songs. Zakk Cervini has been a fast rising modern metal producer in the scene and Daidai's work in Paledusk is something I adore as well, and it really is just worlds colliding.
If the delay means that we get songs of this quality, I am all for it. We're expecting at least six more songs on the album and that's pretty exciting, although that probably means they don't have any left to release as singles until summer comes around. I sure am hyped though. Fish's departure seems to be a clear explanation for why the band had to slow down and postpone their original release date, it definitely had to be a bit of a rough spot internally for them, but now that the news is out and Bring Me The Horizon seems to be moving on from it, hopefully there won't be anything else in the way. Great start to the year though, for sure.
Rating: 4.5/5