Bring Me The Horizon hid a playable alternate-reality video game inside their new album Post Human: Nex Gen, fans have discovered.
The UK pop-metal stars surprise-released their new record, the followup to 2020 project Post Human: Survival Horror, on May 24.
The album’s final track, Dig It, ends with a seemingly random and discordant series of static sounds, which drew the curiosity of one fan.
The fan, as reported by The PRP and TechCrunch, opened Dig It in audio-editing software Audacity to discover that the sound was a spectrogram, a visual image created within audio files, and that it was a QR code.
The code, when scanned, sends users to the game, which is currently playable via a web browser.
According to The PRP, Bring Me The Horizon vocalist Oli Sykes previously teased the presence of something larger but hidden away inside the Post Human: Nex Gen release.
“It’s a real concept album, with a full narrative that connects to the first record, but the concept is hidden and buried,” said Sykes.
“Some people aren’t going to be interested, but for some people it could be like a self-help book. There’s a lot of things in there, some of it’s quite clear, but a lot of it cryptic and hidden. People are gonna have to work it out.”
According to TechCrunch’s report, “the [Bring Me The Horizon] game consists of a website where, among other things, the band uploaded some unreleased tracks, a folder protected by a ‘cipher’, which led to more password-protected files, more mysteries, and more hidden Easter eggs, some of which are still unresolved and locked by unknown codes.”
The publication also reports that some overenthusiastic users have attempted to hack the game in an attempt to access hidden features early.
TechCrunch interviewed the owner of a Discord server dedicated to the game, who has the username xDarkMagicianGirl, who shared a copy of a warning email some users received after the attempted hackings.
The email reportedly reads: “So a friendly warning: your recent unauthorized access to our website has not gone unnoticed. While I admire your enthusiasm, it’s time to address the consequences of your actions. If you continue to hack into the system, you’ll be permanently blocked from accessing any part of.
“Let’s play fair and enjoy the journey together. After all, a little patience goes a long way in making the experience truly enjoyable for everyone. So stop being a dipshit, and play fair!”
Bring Me The Horizon are touring this summer to promote Post Human: Nex Gen, starting with a headline set at Mystic Festival, Poland, on June 8. See dates and get tickets via their website.
