Count Your Blessings | Repented - Bring Me The Horizon
After ten weeks of exploring the entire discography of Bring Me the Horizon, our In Review series has finally reached its end with the release of Count Your Blessings | Repented. I’ve been damn-near foaming at the mouth for this re-recording since it was announced back in April! So, was the wait worth it? Do the boys still have the “sauce” after putting the original record out in 2006? To answer simply, fuck yeah, they do!
Repented is just about everything it needed to be to mark the momentous 20th anniversary of a record that helped shape the Deathcore sound of the 2000s and onward. While the original was dogged for being made by a bunch of Scene-looking MySpace kids, and the production value equally ridiculed by the band itself, it would go on to be observed as a core foundation for the genre. Thankfully, this re-recording respects what made the original so damn good and only improves on it. One of the greatest surprises of the record is the addition of the band’s first new Deathcore track in 20 years - “Dehumanized”. I was floored by their ability to not only not lose their step after all this time, but also write a Deathcore track better than most modern releases in the genre. The MySpacecore kids are back to reclaim their crown!
Despite so many strengths, there are some weaknesses with this release. While the production value is high, crisper/clearer, and bassier than the original, there is a glaring problem throughout: The mix. I listened to a lossless version of the album with the best audiophile headphones I own, and I constantly felt that the extremely loud drums drowned out the vocals and guitars. The drumming on this re-recording is incredible, and something you feel in your chest when listening at full volume, but the dial was cranked much too high in the studio. I’m not sure if there was some sort of imposter syndrome going on between Oli and Lee, and they figured they could hide behind the mix, but it wasn’t necessary considering how well both of them performed. Of course, this is just weak speculation. Regardless, Repented is definitely easier to listen to than the original recording, and it aligns more with what my brain remembered the 2006 version sounding like. Even with the higher production value, the band managed to recapture the 2006 sound they were aiming for, which was helped by the music itself being mostly unchanged and the vocals not branching too far from the original.
Oli’s screams are an upgrade versus the original, reaching new levels of nasty and visceral, bridging the gap between his 2006 amateur style and his modern, seasoned vocals. When the project was announced, I was most worried about Oli’s ability to tap back into this style of screaming, especially after mostly stepping away from it for most of the band’s career. While the vocals may end up drowned out in the mix, they’re quite incredible if you can focus solely on them while listening.
There are slight differences throughout the album when compared to the original, which will surely lead to conversations for quite some time about whether it’s an improvement over the original, or a misstep. After five or six listens, I don’t have any major complaints about the differences, but I’ll call out the few I caught.
“Slow Dance” feels “fuller” and “punchier” compared to the original and adds a fadeout that leads right into “Dragon Slaying” (which was “Liquor & Love Lost” on the original).
“Medusa” somehow feels even heavier than the original. The final breakdown is absolutely bone-crushing, and Oli’s vocals are a stand-out that aren’t washed out by the mix. The song ends with a calm outro that leads directly into “Fifteen Fathoms, Counting”.
One of the few things that feels “off” is that “Off the Heezay” ends with the piano outro from the original, but then leads into the new track “Dehumanized”, and feels a little less cohesive when you listen to the entire record. That piano outro was the perfect way to end such a chaotic record, so now it feels like the new track is in the way of that (despite it being an incredible song). I get that there isn’t really a good spot to put the song, though, because you don’t want it to start the record, or toss it in the middle either. Just a small gripe I had!
For Repented, I’m not doing specific callouts of tracks like I usually do (partially since I already did that in my review of the original record), as this is a record that needs to be listened to from the start and all the way through. The full release should be celebrated as a whole, and championed as a successful reintroduction of some of the band’s earliest work to new (and old) fans. This release feels like a respectful middle finger to fans and ex-fans that claimed the band didn’t “have it anymore” and bitched that they missed the old Bring Me the Horizon. Well, they still got it. It’s not often an album is so high energy that it makes me want to run through a wall like the Kool-Aid Man, but alas, that’s where I’m at right now! This return to Deathcore does make me wonder, though… will Post Human 3 be a full return to the genre with all-new music?
Grab the best headphones you have, try to find a lossless (FLAC) version of the record, and crank it to 11. Party like it’s 2006 and you’re hanging in some random kid’s basement on a school night, playing this record full blast and headbanging with your buddies. I sure as hell will be, and definitely will in October when I see them play the album in full for Furnace Fest!