Bring Me the Horizon, “Post Human: NeX GEn.”

It’s an album that was quickly become something of lore for fans of U.K. alt-rock outfit Bring Me the Horizon. Post Human: NeX GEn has taken on a number of forms before its release.

It was meant to be the second EP in the Post Human four-part series. But after frontman Oli Sykes realized that fans had already heard the majority of the songs, it was back to the drawing board to create more. What followed was several intense months as Bring Me The Horizon recorded and re-recorded, new ideas were considered and parts reworked.

Along the way, the band parted with longtime backing vocalist and multi-instrumentalist Jordan Fish. The album became a meme, with fans commenting “When is NeX GEn?” on the band’s Instagram posts. Finally, right before a holiday weekend in May, it was there.

“There’s a place I want to take you, but I’m not quite there myself yet/ I’m getting better but there’s still days I wish that I was someone else,” Sykes announces at the outset on “YOUtopia.”

Off the bat, fans will recognize the hard-driving melodic sounds, with subtle electronic flourishes. The opener is both soaring and dynamic, focusing on a memorable chorus while leaving room for some twists along the way.

Things only get heavier on the melodic metal of “Kool-Aid.”

“‘Cause you got a taste now, drink the Kool-Aid by the jug/ So suffer your fate, oh, come here and give me a hug,” Sykes sings.

The album’s narrative is up to fans to discover, though the lyrical themes range from mental health to cults and the overthrowing of authority. While the songs aren’t emo, there’s some crossover on tracks like “Top 10 staTues tHat CriEd bloOd.” The songs feature some unhinged tempo changes and style changes, from acoustic and atmospheric to ferocious and biting, electronic and trippy—often within the span of a few bars.

The band worked with Aurora for the moody and cinematic “liMousine.” The track is more straightforward than its predecessors, with sludgy down-tuned guitar riffs and thunderous drumming. The Norwegian artist enters on the second verse and plays an effective counterpoint to Sykes’ vocals.

Some songs fall right into the BMTH wheelhouse, like the infectious, edgy and vibrant “DArkSide.”

Electronica and emo clash on “a bulleT w/mynamE On,” a collaboration with Underoath, who pushes the song further into the metalcore direction. Along the way, Bring Me The Horizon sprinkles in instrumental interludes that move the narrative forward. Sykes tackles his own mental health and explores his darkest musings on “n/A,” with more whiplash-inducing shifts.

“Maybe I should drop dead/ Eat shit/ Go to hell/ I could jump head first out the window/ Dark thoughts keep up filling up in my mind,” he announces.

Sykes’ creative vision is the focal point of Bring Me the Horizon, and that’s more pronounced on this record. The upbeat “LosT” channels golden-era My Chemical Romance while “sTraNgeRs” has power ballad vibes. Both tracks delve into loneliness and depression.

“Maybe I was destined to disappear,” Sykes muses.

“R.I.p. (duskCOre Remix)” is manic in its execution, from machine-gunned beats to choppy synths and phased vocals. It doesn’t feel like a remix in the way we might typically think of one. Rapper Lil Uzi Vert and Daryl Palumbo of Glassjaw make an appearance on the scorching and unrelenting “AmEN!”

What Bring Me The Horizon does particularly well throughout the record is never losing sight of memorable choruses, regardless of how far away from one they may be. Everything comes back together in time for a singalong.

The record offers more challenges than many of the band’s prior works, including its Post Human predecessor. It doesn’t provide the instant gratification of those other records, but the ambition of this one serves respect. There’s a reason to listen in full, again and again, to discover new things.

The record closes with earnest anthem “DiE4u” and the ambitious “Dig It.” Fans of 2019’s amo will find a lot to latch onto on this complex track that fuses pop, hard rock and electronica. At the end there’s a sustained silence before a voice offers cryptic instructions, with hints of websites, serial numbers, software errors and more, surely charting a course for eager fans to dig further into the album.

Follow writer Mike DeWald at Twitter.com/mike_dewald.