Review Summary: Bring Me The Horizon takes any of the potential that their previous release had and smashes it against a wall repeatedly.
Bring Me The Horizon’s previous release Count Your Blessings showed potential, it was a sub par deathcore album and with the right guidance they could have made a good second album and avoided the “sophomore slump.” Well they avoided the sophomore slump, instead they experienced the sophomore suicide season.
The main drawback of this album out of the many of them is a lack of direction. Songs run too long, are too repetitive, and suffer from horrible lyrical content. The musicianship isn’t bad, it’s just misguided. The production is much cleaner this time around, and it doesn’t suit the music, the guitars sound too similar and they don’t venture out of their comfort zone and showcase their talent like they did before. The drums shy away from the deathcore drumming and as if we weren’t bored before with them, they are worse this time around. The vocals are not as incomprehensible on Suicide Season, and quite frankly that’s a bad thing because you don’t want to hear the lyrical content. Hearing Oli Sykes yell “It was written in blood” or “I’ve got a secret” over and over again is not entertaining.
One song that really illustrates this lack of direction is “Chelsea Smile,” the track could end after about 3:30 but instead drags on for 5:02 and adds nothing new but manages instead to lose your attention. This trend is illustrated time and time again. Or how on "Diamonds Aren't Forever" the obnoxious introduction of almost 1 minute is so unnecessary and loses your attention almost immediately and then he starts yelling "I've said it before and I'll say it again, if you think you're alive then you're better off dead" repeatedly.
Songs that show that their is still a tiny glimpse of hope for BMTH is "Sleep With One Eye Open," the lyrics aren't as immature and repetitive and the song is actually catchy enough to make up for the lack of instrumental deviation. Or the first half of "Chelsea Smile" before it drags on too much.
All of this being said however the members of this band are all young, and maybe with a good producer and a few years under their belt they can make a comeback and really mature into their own style instead of jumping from deathcore to metalcore in an attempt to get more mainstream success.
However this album is a perfect example of what happens when a band runs wild around the studio with no one to hold the reigns. And now, after everything this album has put me through, Bring Me The Horizon, I should have f*cking pissed on you.
