www.myspace.com/bmth
Label: Earache Records
From: Steel City, UK
Count Your Blessings
Release Date: 10/30/06
Track Listing:
1. Pray for Plagues
2. Tell Slater Not to Wash His D**k
3. For Stevie's Eyes Only
4. Alot Like Vegas
5. Black and Blue
6. Slow Dance
7. Liquor & Love Lost
8. (I Used to Make out With) Medusa
9. Fifteen Fathoms, Counting
10. Off the Heezay
Quick Review:
Subject Matter:
Although It’s Nothing Groundbreaking ‘Word Wise’, The Lyrics Are Well Written In An Almost Poetic Manner And Mainly Revolve Around Personal Relationships Enabling Almost Everyone, No Matter Age Or Sex, Lyrics They Can Relate To. Not Only Does Frontman Oli Sykes Enchant Us With Beautifully Ugly Prose, He Does It Damn Well.
Music:
For The Most Part, The Music Is On Point But Certain Areas Lack Structure And Take On An Almost ‘Pure Noise’ Type Of Bedlam And Confusion That Isn’t ANY Fun. If BMTH Were To Remove These Weak Points, You Would Have A Flawless CD That Can Be Played Front To Back, Without Any Problems. Either Way, Its Playability Is Overly Enjoyable Throughout.
Layout:
While Certain Bands Tend To Follow The Cookie-Cutter Form Of Artwork And Overall ‘Feel’ Of What A CD In Their Particular Genre Should Look Like, Bring Me The Horizon Takes That Into Consideration Too And Uses SOME Of It, But Then Pushes It Several Steps Further. The Cover And Inside Artwork Is One Of The Rare Few In The Past Couple Of Years To Actually Bring Some New Things To The Table.
Overall: 8 Stars
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Long Review/ Album Breakdown:
‘Count Your Blessings’ Isn’t For Everybody. Singer Oli Sykes Vocal Excercises Matched With The Screaming Guitars And Pulsating Drums Throughout the CD Can Either Leave You Feeling Like You Just Witnessed An Exorcism [And Loved It!] Or Leave You With A Bad Taste In Your Mouth. Either Way, Bring Me The Horizon WILL Be Heard.
'Pray For Plagues':
Taking A Note From Similar Artists Who Came Before Them, They Kick Off The CD With A Sonic Assault That Instantly Grabs Attention On ‘Pray For Plagues’, An Aural Beating That Isn’t Afraid To Shy Away From Touchy Subject Matters With Lines Like ‘She Starts Her New Diet, Of Liquor And Dick. Just Like Hollywood But Laced In Sick. The Sun Goes Down And So Does She. Sold Out The Love That She Had Left With A Cut Of The Throat.’ With Lyrics Like These, It’s No Small Wonder Why Younger Generations Have Taken A Big Liking To Them. Whether These Words Can Be Translated To Oli Reflecting On A Long Lost Love Or Something Very Similar To That, They Can Become Eerily Familiar To Anyone Who Has Ever Felt Betrayed Or Hurt By An Ex-Romantic Interest Or By Someone They Once Loved.
‘Tell Slater Not To Wash His D**k':
Is One Of My Personal Favorites From The CD. The First Eight Seconds Of The Song Sounds Almost Like A Homage To The Metal/Thrash Bands That Have Preceded Them, With Whirling Guitars And A Distinct, Almost Late 80’s-Early 90’s Feel To It, But After That, A Break Comes In For About Three Seconds, And Then They Come With A Guitar Driven Track That Seethes With Angst, Hurt And Frustration. Everything On This Track Is On Point And In Check, So Don’t Look For The Band To Faulter This Early On., Either! The Guitar Work On This Piece Is Simply Incredible, Especially About One Minute And 15 Seconds Into The Track, Where Curtis [Or Lee, I’m Not Sure Whose Part This Is] Pulls Out A Really Catchy, Hypnotic Riff, And Reels You In With It Quickly AND Painfully, But In A Good Way!
‘Braille (For Stevie Wonders Eyes Only)’:
To ME Is The Best Track On Count Your Blessings. I Don’t Know If Its That Fact That It’s Probably The Easiest One To Latch Onto Or What, But Whatever Formula They Used To Make It, They Hit The Jackpot With It. The Melody And Song In General Is Nothing Too Far ‘Left Field’ For Them, But They Definitely Have ‘A Lil Something Special’ In This Song Although I Can’t Really Detect What It Is…Maybe It’s Probably The Fact That Its One Of The More Cut And Dry Songs With No Real Gimmick. It’s Just A Great Song, Nothing More And Nothing Less, Period.
‘A Lot Like Vegas’:
I Don’t Know What Direction Bring Me The Horizon Was Trying To Roll With This One, But It Works Rather Well. It Almost Seems Like They Were Aiming For That ‘Crowd Favorite’ Complete With An Almost ‘Sing Along’ Part Proclaiming ‘We’ll Take This Feeling To Our Graves, For Every Will You We Betrayed, No One Can Know About This’. I Can Almost Picture It Perfectly...About 10 Love Lorne Teenage Girls And Boys Singing Along To These Lines With Perfect Synchronization. Now While That Thought May Make A Few People Roll Their Eyes, Or Sick Depending Who You Are, I Think Its Something Quite Unique To Have People Coming Together, Screaming Their Lungs Out To Something That They Wish They Had A Chance To Say So Earnestly.
'Black And Blue':
When ‘A Lot Like Vegas’ Ends, BMTH Takes No Time Breaking Into ‘Black And Blue’, A Track With A Semi-Potent Blend Of Heavier Punk, Thrash And Metal. This Song Is Very ‘Chugga-Chugg’, And Although That’s Not Necessarily A Bad Thing, I Don’t Think It Works Well With Them When The Duration Of The Said Part Starts To Seem Kind Of Long. It’s Almost Like You Want Them To Jump Back Into Something Spontaneous To Pull Them Out Of The Drift They Landed In. Now, Don’t Get My Words Minced, It Is A Decent Song, But I Don’t Think It Showcases Their Talent To The Best Of Their Ability, But Still, It Is Worth A Listen. Just Because It’s Not On Of My Favorites, Doesn’t, In No Way, Mean That You Won’t Like It.
'Slow Dance':
As One Of The Only Two Purely Instrumental Tracks On ‘Count Your Blessings’, ‘Slow Dance’ Starts Off Rather Wearily And Tired Sounding, But Then Transpires To Become A Pulsating Ditty, That Can Only Be Described As A ‘Mini-Interlude’. With Some Sort Of Distant Sample In The Background Thrown In For Depth And/Or Feel, Kicking In About A Minute In Or So, It Does Just What It Was Meant To Do: Give A Haunting Track A Haunting Background. Although It Does Only Clock In At A Minute And 16 Seconds Long, It Seems They Basically Decided To Keep This One Short And Sweet, Which Is Utilized Very Well As A Good Break To Sort Of, Slow The Pace A Little Bit, While They Prepare To Go Off With ‘Liqour & Love Lost’.
'Liquor & Love Lost':
‘Liqour & Love Lost’ Wastes Minimal Time Setting The Stage For A Thinly Veiled Song About, Well, A Love Lost. I Believe This Song To Be About An Abrupt Break Up Of Two Individuals, Where Oli Recounts ‘I Thought I Saw Your Eyes Laced In Smoke And Cigarette Curls, I Thought I Saw Your Eyes But I’m Seeing Ghosts Tonight’. To Listen To The Words, It Serves The Listener With That Sort Of Lonesome And Bothered Feeling That Sykes Must Have Been Feeling When He Penned Them, Which In Turn Is Great, Because Then What He Wants You To Understand, Your Understanding! Purpose Fulfilled, Right? Yes, BUT The Only Thing Though, Is For Something That Seems To Be Rather Sensitive, I Don’t Know If I Would Have Had The Band Play Something So Fast And Heavy. I Myself Probably Would Have Opted For Something More Down Tempo-ed To Match The Mood Of The Lyrics, But That, Is Just My Own Opinion.
'(I Used To Make Out) With Medusa':
NOW, Anybody That Has Ever Had To Read About Or Study Greek Mythology SHOULD Know At Least A Little Something About Medusa, The Woman With Serpents Serving As Strands Of Hair And With Whom One Glare Can Turn Your Physical Being Into A Stone. Plainly Stated, I Feel Bad For The Girl Who Served As Inspiration For The Title, ‘(I Used To Make Out) With Medusa’. It’s A Song That Only Feels Right Giving A Violent VERBAL ‘Lashing’ To A Girl That Fucked You Over In Some Way. I Can’t Name One Guy Who Has NEVER Felt Like This. From The Opening Chords, Its One Hell Of A Ride, And This Seems To Be The Most Concise Song On The CD, Where Every One Was Playing Their Position To The Fullest Extent. Although The Song Starts Off REALLY Good, It Slows Down, And Leaves The Listener Behind At Certain Parts. Breakdowns Don’t Seem To Be Actual Breakdowns, Parts Get Drug Out Further Than Need Be, And So On And So Forth. What Starts Out As A Great Song, Becomes A Noisy Mess, For A Small While, Leaving One To Question If They Should Skip The Rest Of The Track Or Let It Keep Going In Hopes That It Picks Up Again. I Chose The Latter, And As It Turns Out, The Guys Do In Fact Get Back On Track, Pull Out Of The Slump They Had Hit, And Finish Up The Song Decently, All In Just The Knick Of Time.
'Fifteen Fathoms, Counting':
This Is Where The CD Takes A REALLY Odd Turn. Laced With Somber Guitars, And A Slow, Distant Backing Beat, One May Be Forced To Wonder Just Exactly ‘Where It Came From’. Thrash/Metal Purists May See It As A Weak Cut, But I Favor It Greatly As A Nice Switch Up From The Previously Brutal Tracks. It’s Nice To, Shall I Say, ‘Relax’, For A Minute Or So, And Just Let The Song Play Through In Its Entirety. For Me, It Forced Me To Sort Of ‘Contemplate’ On Various Things That Have Been Going On In My Life, And Is Dually Inspiring In That Sense. And Although Oli Is Absent, I Think That Was The Best Idea For This Particular Melody, Leaving It With Much More To Leave To The Imagination. I Believe This Track To Also Be A Sort Of Breathing Testament, Perhaps A Musical Declaration, To Those Who Wrote Off BMTH As A One Trick Pony. With A Spacious Atmosphere And Low Key Drums, This One, Rest Assured, Is Simply Beautiful, And Should Very Well Shut Up The Nay Sayers Who Thought BMTH Could Only Make Music To Break Bones To.
'Off The Heezay':
What Starts Off As A Relatively Messy Song, Quickly Transcends Into Something More Structured With The Final Cut, ‘Off The Heezay’. Although Most Of The Song Serves An Easily Viewable Actual Purpose, Certain Parts Sound Almost ‘Spliced In’ And ‘Impromptu’ Like They Never Really Belonged There In The First Place, But Alas, These Moments Don’t Last Too Long Except For A Couple Seconds ‘Here’ And A Couple Of Seconds ‘There’. Spontaneous And Exciting, ‘Off The Heezay’ Is Exactly That: One Last Hurrah Before Closing The CD Out With A Sad Piano Loop . ‘Off The Heezay’ Executes The Stigma Of ‘What The Last Song On A CD Should Sound Like’ Very Well, Taking No Prisoners, Only Lives.
Verdict:
‘Count Your Blessings’ Is A Remarkable CD, And For Only About $15.00, I Highly Recommend Picking It Up. And Again, Although They’re Not Exactly Building A Whole Lot Of New Bridges, They Aren’t Exactly Tearing Them Down Either. They Do The Metal Genre [And All Genres Related To Them] Justice Over And Over Again, Bringing Us A Slightly Changed Perception Of What Music Like This SHOULD Sound Like: Spontaneous, Thrilling And Of Course, Hard, Even If There Is A Few Slight Missteps.
-Nathan
