Bring Me The Horizon
In Review
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I first got into Bring Me The Horizon when I was a sophomore in high school, finding Count Your Blessings, The Bedroom Sessions, and This Is What The Edge of Your Seat Was Made For on a sketchy, illegal music site where I used to grab music for myself and my friends, as I was far too poor to buy a CD. The music caught me at a time when I was diving headfirst into Deathcore, Grindcore, and other extreme Metal subgenres, breaking free of the milquetoast and safe Rock I was raised on. I was entranced by the band's rawness and energy, as well as the themes they were exploring (likely because I wasn’t too far off in age from when the guys wrote these songs).
My discovery of BMTH came at a perfect time, as their newest album at the time, There Is A Hell…, was going to be released right before my birthday that year! I made sure to put money to the side so I could buy it, and after a quick trip to the Hot Topic in my local mall with my best friends, we emerged victorious with the record that would go on to be a major influence on my guitar playing and vocal style for the next several years. The song “Alligator Blood” was even one of my vocal warmup songs during my time as a vocalist in a couple Metal bands (one of the other songs being I Set My Friends on Fire’s cover of “Crank That”. Yeah, that cover).
As time pressed on and the band evolved their sound, I stopped paying as much attention, being disappointed with their records from 2013 to 2019. Part of it was me being an edgy teen that couldn’t appreciate music genres outside of my own bubble, and part of it was me missing the band’s Metalcore/Deathcore sound, which they had mostly abandoned over the years. I distinctly remember rolling my eyes and losing faith in them when I heard “Throne” play during an episode of Vampire Diaries my wife was watching. At that point, I really felt like the band had lost the plot.
2020 came around, and with it, a global pandemic. A friend of mine at the time still listened to the band and mentioned to me that BMTH had just released songs that sounded closer to their older stuff and suggested I check it out. I was instantly hooked when I heard Post Human: Survival Horror. I remember trying to go back to those middle albums the band put out, hoping I’d have a new appreciation for them, but I don’t think I was quite there yet.
Fast forward to 2026, where my tastes in music have grown up as I have. Over the last couple of years, I’ve revisited albums I previously wrote off, often finding myself pleasantly surprised. With BMTH releasing a re-recorded version of Count Your Blessings this year (an album I absolutely adored growing up), I felt it was time to not only give those middle albums a shot again, but also celebrate one of the bands that got me into Deathcore all those years ago. Bring Me The Horizon were one of the bands to help shape my music taste as well as influence a lot of my writing style, so it makes sense to come back to where it all began. So, please enjoy this weekly In Review series of Bring Me The Horizon’s work as we all count down the release of Count Your Blessings | Repented.
“Count your fucking blessings”,
Kenny
Click on Any Album Cover Below to Access
This Is What the Edge of Your Seat Was Made For - Released 2004
Count Your Blessings - Released 2006
Suicide Season - Released 2008
There Is a Hell Believe Me I've Seen It. There Is a Heaven Let's Keep It a Secret - Released 2010
Sempiternal - Released 2013
That's the Spirit - Released 2015
Amo - Released 2019
Post Human: Survival Horror - Released 2020
Post Human: Nex Gen - Released 2024
Count Your Blessings | Repented - Released 2026
Count Your Blessings - Bring Me The Horizon
Sonically, Count Your Blessings is batshit and wild in the best ways possible. Oil’s vocals are raw and unhinged and have a sound we’ll likely never really hear again, though we shouldn’t, since he was performing in a way that was physically causing him damage – something that would later impact his vocal style and eventually cause severe damage in 2019, forcing him to rehab and focus on proper technique. Luckily, this worked out for the best, as his vocals on more recent BMTH tracks sound much more polished and less like they’re causing him pain/lifetime damage. Aside from the ferocious vocals, the album is filled to the brim with breakneck drumming, pinch harmonics galore, and bone-crunching breakdowns. Melody isn’t found in the vocals but instead found in some of the guitar solos and the instrumental interlude “Fifteen Fathoms, Counting,” which serves as a nice breather after the chaos so far and before diving into the crazed track, “Off the Heezay”. The record relies on not the most intricate/difficult guitar riffs, but riffs that are simple and get the job done, and get stuck in your ears. The drumming and Oli’s chaotic vocals feel like the driving force for much of the album, and are trickier to execute compared to the guitars, but don’t let that discount the iconic guitar writing.

