MANTRA

This eerie rock anthem finds Oli Sykes criticizing people who are too willing to follow the crowd and put their faith in things they don't understand. Do you wanna start a cult with me? I'm not vibrating like I oughta be I need a purpose, I can't keep surfing Through this existential misery The song was inspired by the documentary Wild Wild Country, which tells the story of the controversial Indian guru Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh (Osho), who traveled from India to America to start a cult.

The song was birthed when Sykes was writing lyrics and watching TV in the studio and he stumbled across Wild Wild Country. The singer told NME that he was struck by the similarities between starting a cult and embarking on a relationship or a marriage. "You've got to give yourself over to a person and trust them and love them unconditionally," the BMTH frontman explained. "Whatever they say goes and you have to have this blind faith towards them. You might have to give up your whole life to be with them." "That's how it started," Sykes continued. "It kind of blossomed into being about a bit more than a relationship, because I think we are quite tribal people. People want to belong to a cult. I think it's a problem now more than ever, because people say they want to believe in someone, then they don't want to admit that it's wrong because it doesn't agree with what they initially said."

"Mantra" was released as the first single from BMEH's sixth studio album Amo. Prior to the song's premiere, the band launched a mysterious campaign, including a billboard that read "Do You Want To Start A Cult With Me?" - a line that is the track's opening lyric.