The album the band eventually tried to forget
In short: Bring Me the Horizon’s debut, Count Your Blessings, is a sonic artifact of teenage extremity. While it cemented their status in the deathcore scene, the band members have spent nearly two decades distancing themselves from it, viewing their early work as a product of youthful over-excitement and unrefined production.
Following a session with Dan Sprigg at Birmingham's DEP International Studios, the record debuted in the UK on 30 October 2006 before reaching the US on 14 August 2007. The recording process was marked by isolation; because the studio was in a busy city center, the young band members—all under 20 years old—often left to explore the city, resulting in most parts being recorded individually rather than as a cohesive unit. Frontman Oliver Sykes described the experience as intense, fueled by the pressure of building hype.
Musically, the album is a dense tapestry of deathcore, metalcore, and melodic death metal, drawing heavy influence from bands like At The Gates, Metallica, and Pantera. The band intended to make the music as 'heavy and brutal as they possibly could,' scrapping any ideas that didn't meet that criterion. However, critics were divided: while some praised the vitriolic lyrics and 'thunderous breakdowns,' others dismissed the songwriting as unimaginative and the production as unrefined. The lyrical content was notably simple, with Sykes noting that most songs were about 'girls or just growing up.'
The band's relationship with the record has been largely one of rejection. As early as 2008, guitarist Lee Malia criticized its quality, and the group eventually abandoned the deathcore sound entirely. Keyboardist Jordan Fish later explained that the shift was a matter of honesty, noting the members simply 'don't listen to deathcore anymore.' Despite this, the album remains a 'classic' among genre fans, with tracks like 'Pray for Plagues' still cited as timeless highlights of their formative years.
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- Summary by Intellect · source: Count Your Blessings
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