On the 4th of December in 2006, a relatively unknown band of 5 British teens would release their first full length album, Count Your Blessings. Almost 20 years later, in April 2026, vocalist Oli Sykes announced the band would re-record the eponymous album to give it a more polished sound, having never particularly liked its sound from the get go. Bear in mind, in the 20 years since the original album release, they have become one of the biggest rock and metal bands on the planet, so this was undeniably a risk that could have been met with backlash from their huge fanbase. Leading up to Count Your Blessings | Repented however, there was a groundswell of support from the older section of fans who had begun to feel that the band were going in a direction where they were no longer recognisable from the young upstarts of 2006. This thought process isn’t necessarily inaccurate, for example show any of the original fans a song like Mother Tongue or Drown and they’d think they were released by entirely different artists!
But personally, as someone who has loved every iteration of this band from crushingly heavy, to EDM-fused pop rock, I was incredibly excited to see how this re-recording of such an iconic debut would sound. Then came surprise June 2026 single, Dehumanized accompanied with a blood-soaked, gruesome music video and any fears older fans may have had about whether the band could still deliver deathcore were immediately eased. The song would go onto the re-recorded album as an additional bonus track for the 20th anniversary. Bludgeoning listeners’ ears with a brutality professional wrestling star Rhea Ripley would be proud of! Lead guitarist Lee Malia was allowed to absolutely go to town with an excellent solo just before the double breakdown (yes, a DOUBLE breakdown, you read that right.) Their first full on deathcore song in almost 20 years and it is punishingly perfect. Why did I ever doubt you Oli?
This now leads me to the full album, as soon as Count Your Blessings | Repented starts off, with the unmistakable double kicks from Matt Nicholls on drums and visceral screams of Oli Sykes, I knew I was in for a tour de force of gritty deathcore for the next 42 minutes. Expertly mixed and mastered by the godfather of modern deathcore, Buster Odeholm, who has credits alongside some of the genre’s heaviest bands of the past decade or so. He was able to replicate the aggressiveness of its original songs while also modernising the style so that it no longer sounds like it was recorded in a small bathroom, which is reportedly what they did in 2006. I’ll be the first person to admit that it took me several listens back in the day to be able to withstand the harsher vocals. But this reworking has really made me appreciate the band for being able to make such widely varied music. It stands to reason that Bring Me The Horizon have well and truly delivered on the heaviness again. If you were expecting the 2020s pop rock leaning sound of Bring Me The Horizon, you are going to be very disappointed. But… if you have been waiting for Oli to do some intense screams again, this re-recording will be right up your street!
Our rating here at Comicbook Clique/Dirt Sheet Radio is a 9/10, recommended for fans of Lorna Shore and Brand Of Sacrifice.
STANDOUT TRACKS
Dehumanized
Pray For Plagues
Dragon Slaying