The James Logan Courier

By Linh-Chi Nguyen, Courier Music Editor

In a scene that is very concerned with overdone haircuts and embellished appearance, the band Bring Me the Horizon has risen atop with more dominance than the usual metalcore cliché. Those who have predominantly buried themselves in the genre of metalcore have likely familiarized themselves with this band. The British quintet, formed in 2004, has three solid albums to date: Count Your Blessings, Suicide Season and the new release titled There Is a Hell, Believe Me I've Seen It. There Is a Heaven, Let's Keep It a Secret.

With their debut album Count Your Blessings, Bring Me the Horizon established their status as a brutally dynamic band with insane instrumentals followed by vocalist Oliver Sykes's high-pitched (and occasionally low-pitched) screams. Two years later, Bring Me The Horizon unveiled their next release, Suicide Season, which denoted a more stylistic approach in respect to Sykes's seemingly differential vocal range and heavy instrumentals.

Fast forward another two years and Bring Me The Horizon introduced their third full-length album, There Is a Hell, Believe Me I've Seen It. There Is a Heaven, Let's Keep It a Secret. The new release isn't that far-fetched from the very last although there are several crisp elements to this album that sets if off from the rest.

The album is rooted with the obvious head-bangers and heavy melodies that seem to produce the usual generic metalcore sound. However, Bring Me The Horizon wasn't afraid to surpass their potential as a band. With a more brave and unrestrained direction, the band was able to invoke a more experimental element to the album. In addition it features very personal lyrics in comparison to the previous two albums.

It begins with “Crucify Me” that is comprised with lyrics in which the album title is derived from. Hardly even utilizing guest vocalist Lights Poxleitner, they were able to conduce a song that attempts their new direction. Although the song features the ordinary guitar riffs, they were able to involve a choir, which attempted to create some sense of progression.

A few songs such as “Home Sweet Hole”, Alligator Blood”, “Anthem” and “Visions” is nothing close to promising. The songs are basically monotonous metalcore ballads that doesn't excel past their potential. The undeviating songs hinder the album, placing Bring Me The Horizon in the generic metalcore bandwagon.

Even with the mediocrity that has displaced this album back into the bandwagon, there are some that is far more promising than the rest. For example, songs such as “It Never Ends”, “Blessed With A Curse”, and “Don't Go” offers some interesting dimension to the album. These songs have a melodic element that is embedded with an electronic twist that creates progression.

Slight progression is always better than no progression at all; this is exactly what Bring Me The Horizon has produced. They don't steer off any completely different road but were able to maintain that Bring Me The Horizon sound. Deriving from a scene so oversaturated with only looks, musically the quintet isn’t much of a joke. It’s uncertain whether this metalcore formula will grant them any sort of longevity, but for now they've presented a substantial album that will continue their successful career.