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Bring Me The Horizon

Count Your Blessings

Written by: TL on 11/11/2006 15:55:28

At your very first glance of Sheffield five-piece Bring Me The Horizon, one phrase is bound to cross your mind; "Fuckin' emo". And then, at your very first listen to the very first seconds of debut-album "Count Your Blessings", opener "Pray For Plagues" will smash you in a face with a sound so hard and brutal you'll be crying at the thought of just how wrong you were.

Indeed BMTH could have fooled me. With the name and the looks and the very traditional emo/core rise to power (tour as fuck, release EP, gain huge success on myspace, wait for ages, release debut, increase popularity, tour as fuck) the opening riff and scream is bound to feel like a truck running 160 km/h just appearing out of nowhere and leveling the unwary listener. As if to make a statement about how metal this band actually is, the song continues to hammer at your ears with lightspeed thrash and vocals changing between aggresive screaming and brutal growling. Frontman Oliver Sykes sound a bit like Matt from Avenged Sevenfold did back on "Sounding The Seventh Trumpet" era, only more angry and more out of control, while whoever does the growls could have easily been the same person doing them on I Killed The Prom Queen's "Music For The Recently Deceased". "Tell Slater Not To Wash His Dick" continues along the same lines as the opener, and clues you in on the one thing about BMTH that might be considered a bit emo. That being the impression that at some point some girl(s) must have severely trampled some band member(s)' feelings, because lyrics on this record are mostly bitter, hateful and relentless assaults on some unknown 'bitch', demonstrated beyond any doubt on tracks like "For Stevie Wonders Eyes Only (which also goes by the name of 'Braile')" as well as on "(I Used To Make Out With) Medusa". Critical voices have mentioned, that this album might not be the most varied album ever, but while listening to it, the similarity of the tracks never really struck me as a downside. Maybe it's subjective, but I for one can easily endure AND enjoy the nine tracks of bitter thrash/hardcore/metalcore presented to me here, as it just seems to be delivered so God damn well and convincingly. And yes, I write nine tracks, because for some reason, the ninth track of the ten present is a two-minute acoustic instrumental piece, that will, by the time you get to it, sooth your ears, just before the final onslaught of "Off The Heezay". Again, I think it's rather subjective if you feel this kind of 'interlude' is fitting or annoying. I for one don't find it nearly as annoying as some of the stunts other metalcore bands have pulled off in the past, and to me, it does nothing to ruin my overall impression of the CD.

Bring Me The Horizon has released an aggression-filled and technical album that is simply metal as fuck, catching everyone off guard with its sheer brutality, and I don't know what more to say about it except; Bitter, brutal, brilliant, not leaving my headphones any time soon. Get it, it rocks.

Download: For Stevie Wonders Eyes Only (which also goes by the name of "Braile"), A Lot Like Vegas, (I Used To Make Out With) Medusa
For the fans of: I Killed The Prom Queen, early Avenged Sevenfold
Listen: MySpace

Release date 30.10.2006
Visible Noise Records