Artist: Bring Me the Horizon Album: Count Your Blessings

Year: 2006
Duration: 40:21

Count Your Blessings: A Critical Review of Bring Me the Horizon's Debut Album

Bring Me the Horizon (BMTH) is a British metalcore band that formed in Sheffield, England in 2004. Over the years, they have evolved from a deathcore band to the pioneers of a more experimental metal sound. Their debut album, Count Your Blessings, was released in 2006 under Visible Noise Records. It was a breakthrough album that defined the sound of early BMTH. In this blog post, we dive into the album's history, music genre, the standout songs, innovative moments, and ultimately offer a critical review of the album.

Count Your Blessings is an album that signifies the emergence of BMTH as a force to reckon with in the metal scene. The band created a blend of deathcore and metalcore that was heavy and aggressive, with frantic guitar riffs and breakdowns that incite a pit at any live gig. While the album has tracks that followed the same formula, BMTH pushed themselves beyond the confines of the genre in tracks like Off the Heezay and Liquor & Love Lost. These songs had clean sung choruses and experimental guitar riffs that hinted at what BMTH had in store for the future.

The standout songs from the album include Pray for Plagues and Black & Blue. The former features one of the most memorable breakdowns in the genre, where the band encourages the listener to 'bring me the horizon' before the double bass drum kicks in. The latter is a track that showcases the clean singing abilities of vocalist Oli Sykes, who belts out the chorus with raw emotion. Other notable tracks are A Lot Like Vegas, For Stevie Wonder's Eyes Only (Braille), and Tell Slater Not to Wash His Dick, all of which showcase the aggression and frenzied pace of the album.

One of the most innovative parts of Count Your Blessings is the raw energy that the album exudes. The album's production is raw, gritty, and in-your-face, which compliments the band's sound. While the album might not be the most polished, it captures the essence of the band's live shows and makes the listener feel like they are in the middle of a BMTH gig. The band also experimented with subtle electronics in tracks like Re: They Have No Reflections and Off the Heezay, which was a sign of things to come from BMTH in their later albums.

Critically speaking, Count Your Blessings is a polarizing album. Some consider it a classic, while others think it's a piece of music that hasn't aged well. Personally, while it's not the band's most polished work, it signifies a moment in time when BMTH was carving out their unique sound and experimenting with their music. The album is the blueprint of early BMTH and showcases the raw talent, aggressiveness that the band embodies.

In conclusion, Bring Me the Horizon's debut album, Count Your Blessings, is an album that defines the band's early sound. The album has some of the band's most famous tracks, features experimental elements that hint at what BMTH has in store for the future, and captures the raw energy of the band's live shows. While it might not be the band's most accessible work, it signifies the band's growth and evolution in the metal scene. Count Your Blessings will remain a classic album in the metalcore genre, and it paved the way for the band's future endeavors.