Bring Me the Horizon - Count Your Blessings (2006)
Well damn, this is certainly a step back from their previous EP. Somewhere between their last EP and this album, they must have decided "The Dillinger Escape Plan are FANNYFIDDLERS!!" or whatever these crazy young Brits are saying nowadays, because that influence is pretty much gone, with everything leaning a lot more towards standard ol' fashioned meat-and-potatoes deathcore.
That's not to say everything positive involving the band is lost, however, because there's still some musically interesting moments that are reminiscent of their previous EP, but they're mainly just following the blueprints of deathcore on this album. The guitar tone sounds raw in a good way, and vocalist Oli Sykes ain't bad at that screamy-scream shit my dad hates, but it feels as if the actual songs just aren't as good as their previous offering. Sure, you've got "Pray for Plagues" which is a signature song for the genre, but while everything else doesn't necessarily fall flat, the other tracks, for the most part, fail to stand out as individual highlights, aside from the track "Fifteen Fathoms, Counting" which is a surprisingly calm instrumental (not instruMETAL tho bruh) helping break up the monotony that comes with this album.
The bonus track, a cover of Slipknot's "Eyeless" is appreciated and kinda neat but ultimately unnecessary because it just makes me want to listen to Slipknot's self-titled and argue with people on MetalSucks about the true artistic merits of their music. Damn those cuckold commenters being WRONG on MY internet!!
In short, "Count Your Blessings" isn't really a blessing (to my ears) itself, but you know what is? Doing whippets with hobos outside of Target. Sure, there's the off-chance, well, probable chance you'll get stabbed repeatedly in the stomach at some point in the midst of the good Christian fun you're having, but that's more to write home about than this album, unless the hobo happens to be Scott Stapp, in which case you might want to keep that one to yourself.
6/10
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