Band:	Bring Me The Horizon
Album:	Count Your Blessings
Style:	Deathcore, Melodic metalcore
Release date:	October 30, 2006
Guest review by:	omne metallum

01. Pray For Plagues
02. Tell Slater Not To Wash His Dick
03. For Stevie Wonder's Eyes Only (Braille)
04. A Lot Like Vegas
05. Black and Blue
06. Slow Dance
07. Liquor & Love Lost
08. (I Used To Make Out With) Medusa
09. Fifteen Fathoms, Counting
10. Off The Heezay
11. Eyeless [Slipknot cover] [Hot Topic bonus]

Every band has to start somewhere and regardless of where they end up, it is always worth looking back at where they started. Bring Me The Horizon may be a near diametric opposite band nowadays, but the common thread between the band of 2006 and 2020 is that of evolution. Kicking off the journey is Count Your Blessings, the album that kicked off the career of one of the most divisive bands in music today.

Derivative would be the key word to describe the album; many of the elements contained within are the band's version of what was prevalent at the time (the breakdowns, riffs and vocal patterns in particular) and are semi-incomplete re-interpretation by the band, having hints of originality in what is a very close copy of other bands at the time.

The band often stray into generic riffing territory for much of the album, creating a very beige listen that results in the album sounding like one grey lump. Coupled with Sykes' singing having no variety, it can get hard to differentiate tracks from each other and for your mind not to wonder. Syke's voice isn't that bad, but spread across a whole album with little to no variation, it adds to the feeling of sameness.

The band's overuse of pinch harmonics and slow breakdowns are a recurring problem throughout much of the album, breaking the flow of what are otherwise ok tracks and acting as a kind of flick on the nose that takes you out of the moment of enjoyment. "Liquor & Love Lost" would probably be the best example of this; you find something to hang on to and each little squeal or beat in the breakdown is the band hitting one of your fingers as you hold on to the song.

The band are very middle of the road as musicians at this point; given their age and it being their debut album, it is something that can be considered rather than used as a weapon against the band. It does not improve the generic nature of the music, but shows where the band were at this stage of their career. Malia and Ward sound fresh out of their guitar lessons while Nicholls hasn't yet perfected a drum style he can call his own yet.

There is fun to be had with this record though; for all its flaws, it does conjure up songs that are a good for a listen or two. "(I Used To Make Out With) Medusa" is good for a listen and you find yourself trying to head bang to the awkward rhythm. "A Lot Like Vegas" and "Pray For Plagues" are two tracks that do a good job of representing the style of deathcore the band represent and don't fall foul of some of the flaws that are strewn across much of this album.

Regardless of quality or merit, Count Your Blessings has come to epitomise deathcore for some quarters, tarring the genre with the brush that Bring Me The Horizon painted with (now there's an episode of Bob Ross I wish could have been made). While it does feature many of the tropes (and shortcomings) of deathcore, it is far from being representative of the positive elements the genre has to offer.