Oli Sykes has shared footage of himself recording some deathcore screaming for Bring Me The Horizon‘s 20th anniversary re-recording of their debut album, ‘Count Your Blessings’. Watch below.
The Sheffield band have “reactivated” the 2006 record by making it “sharper, heavier, and more vital than ever”. Titled ‘Count Your Blessings | Repented’, the forthcoming project is described as a “recontextualisation” of the original, rather than a retrospective release.
Sykes and co. brought their then-signature deathcore sound to a global audience on their first studio effort, with singles including ‘Pray For Plagues’, ‘Slow Dance’ and ‘A Lot Like Vegas’.
Now, the frontman has posted a behind-the-scenes video of himself re-recording the album in the studio. Here, he delivers some deathcore screaming that characterised Bring Me’s early material.
“Took me a minute to work out how to do some of this shit again,” Sykes wrote in the caption about returning to the challenging vocal technique.
“Very excited to share CYB repented with u. I think we did you all proud. It’s so nice to see all the love and nostalgia too thank you so much 🖤🖤🖤.”
The clip sees him break off from the mic to laugh, clear his throat, and get frustrated after making an error with the “wrong time”. He later adds: “Shut the fuck up.” After recording one last take, Sykes says: “That’s got to do.”
In the comments section, one fan wrote: “I’m so scared & concerned for his voice 😅.” Another said: “And just like that…. We are so back.” Someone else posted: “Take care of our favourite vocal cords, I mean it ‼️.”
Fontaines D.C. also expressed their love for the video by sharing two love heart emojis. It comes after the Dublin band mixed BMTH’s ‘Can You Feel My Heart’ with Nirvana‘s ‘Heart-Shaped Box’ for a live radio session last year.
As NME noted in 2019, ‘Count Your Blessings’ “attracted as much derision as it did celebration” following its release in ’06. Sykes later told us that Bring Me “were a very divisive band at that time”, and remembered the “scary” and “insane” experience of being bottled at Reading 2008.
Since their deathcore beginnings, Bring Me have flicked between genres, become more mainstream, and earned two UK Number One albums with ‘Amo’ (2019) and ‘Post Human: Survival Horror’ (2020). In a five-star review of the former, NME praised the group’s “diversity in sound, proof that they can do what they want and get away with it”.
In 2022, Halsey revealed that Bring Me The Horizon had taught her to “scream on a record”. She explained: “You can’t ask for a better person to coach you through that. Now I do it in the show, live every night, which is awesome.”
The ‘Count Your Blessings | Repented’ tracklist is reimagined with a new sense of intensity, with the band leaning into the raw edges seen in the initial release – revisiting them with 20 years more experience under their belt as well as more expansive, modern production.
‘Liquor & Lost Love’ also appears under its original working title ‘Dragon Slaying’. The album is due for release on July 10.
To celebrate the project, Bring Me The Horizon have also announced a landmark performance at Manchester’s B.E.C. Arena, as part of Outbreak.
Dubbed ‘Outbreak Presents: Count Your Blessings | Repented’, the group will use that gig to play the album in its entirety for the first time, and also break out some other material from the era.
Co-curated with Outbreak, the gig will see Bring Me The Horizon joined by support acts Static Dress and Dying Wish. Find ticket details here.
BMTH recently brought their new L.I.V.E. In São Paulo concert film to cinemas worldwide for two days only. The movie, co-directed by Sykes, has been described as an “immersive, multi-angle experience”. “L.I.V.E.” stands for “Live Immersive Virtual Experiment”.
In a glowing, five-star review, NME hailed Bring Me’s big screen project as “a love letter to their fans and statement of greatness”. It added: “With a show that follows the post-apocalyptic arc of their ongoing ‘Post Human’ album series, this film could have buckled under the weight of that lofty concept. Instead, we get a tastefully curated and constantly enthralling rollercoaster ride.”