Kingcrimsonprog Bring Me The Horizon’s debut studio album Count Your Blessings is quite different from the albums which would follow it. Whether you would call later albums too light or this album too heavy may affect your enjoyment of this album, in a manner which largely depends on your taste for either extreme metal or metalcore and also possibly which version of the band you heard first.

If you’ve only heard Bring Me The Horizon’s later albums you may be surprised by this record, which features no clean vocals, numerous blast beats and riffs much more influenced by death metal than on later works. The production is a lot less polished too, and there are no electronic influences or samples to be found.

The album is certainly a grower and will get better with each listen. If at first the tracks seem a little samey through out, or if you aren’t used to this band playing this style, it gets better with repeat listening.

It has been said that the band are very sloppy and that the drumming is poor but all these comments I feel are more suited to the live environment than in the studio.

One further reason to dislike this album would be the angry, anti-female lyrics and large number of spiteful breakup songs which may be off putting for many. I find I can just ignore the lyrics when the vocal patterns and delivery are good, so don’t have as much of a problem with this as some.

Of course, some people will hate Bring Me The Horizon no matter what, they seem to be one generation’s band that are cool to hate, but for those who are willing to be open minded, this album is worth checking out.

I find this to be an enjoyable album, and listen to it fairly regularly. For me, it isn’t the best album in the world but is far from the car crash I’ve heard it is made out to be. Perhaps a ‘try before you buy,’ album, but if you like the band I definitely recommend that you at least try.