Unabletothinkofname Reviews: Bring Me The Horizon: There Is A Hell...

[Aggressor and Usurper]

[HEADING=1]I hate to say I told you so, but fuck yeah I told you so[/HEADING]​

Bring Me The Horizonare plagued by doubters and haters. This is the album that will silence those idiots.​

Yes, they look like tools, I know (BMTH, left to right-Jona Weinhofen, Lee Malia, Oli Sykes, Matt Nicholls, Matt Kean)​

With the addition of former Bleeding Through guitarist Jona Weinhofen it seems that BMTH, have, on There Is A Hell, Believe Me I've Seen It. There Is A Heaven, Let's Keep It A Secret, to give it its full, ridiculous title, have pushed the sonic envelope even further, with the strings and electronics that elevated the likes of Chelsea Smile from 2008's Suicide Season to melodic deathcore anthems rather than simply more generic metalcore. This is obvious from the quiet intro to the 6+ minute opener Crucify Me, before it surges into more traditional BMTH brutality. With its heavy electronically edited choir breaks and a stunningly emotional performance from Sykes, seguing with ease into an acoustic outro sung by electro-pop singer Lights, it's a powerful start and one that makes it very obvious this is not Suicide Season Part Two.

The momentum is kept up by Anthem, a more traditionally brutal song featuring the full extent of Sykes' range, with some thoroughly impressive death grunts towards the end. It, again, segues into an unexpected outro, gentle electronics almost bringing to mind ambient trance, before it lurches suddenly into first single It Never Ends, which, when I heard it, single handedly brought me off the fence about Bring Me The Horizon and firmly into the "this is awesome" camp. Boasting a positively planet-sized chorus, the pounding riffs and drums combine with magnificently driving strings to make it one of the album's highlights, and a sure-fire huge singalong when BMTH tour next year.

Don't be fooled by its liberal use of its title word and its ferocious, snarling first half-Fuck boasts some of the gentlest and emotional moments on the album. Not that you'd know from its intro, with its gleeful, hooky riff and devil-may-care lyrics. Josh Franeschi of pop-punk kiddies You Me At Six adds backing vocals to the opening half, though it's mostly lost in the raging maelstrom (FUCK! FUCK! FUCK FUCK FUUUUUUCK! WELL FUCK). Coming to an abrupt stop, Franeschi's vocals are temporarily buried beneath electronics, before his gorgeous, mournful vocals break through, one of the most beautiful moments on an emotion-rich album. It gradually fades out to a solo violin, which in turn opens the next track Don't Go, again with an equally impressive and despairing performance from both the returning Lights and Sykes.

From there there's a lot of brutality-the pounding Home Sweet Hole and by far the heaviest moment on the album, Alligator Blood, the track that most recalls the deathcore of old, with its bellowed gang vocals and scarred, defiant lyrics, it's arresting in a totally different way than the moments that came before. Similar songs follow in Visions and Blacklist, but similar doesn't necessarily mean bad, or boring, especially when there's such consistent quality.

But then there's mellow, keyboard-laden instrumental Memorial and by far the most emotional track on the song, the devestatingly bleak Blessed With A Curse. I mentioned Sykes' impressive performance earlier, and I'll discuss it now-so many metal vocalists attempt to still sound angry and desperate, despite the fact they're millionaires (I'm looking at you, Johnathan Davis. You're married to a pornstar, give it a rest). Sykes genuinely sounds like he's emotionally scarred-the man is fucked up, and this shows, heavily. The lyrics are as bleak as they come "Everything I touch turns to stone" "For better or for worse/I was born into a hearse". Set against the dynamic backing track, featuring some wailing solos that are impressive without being hyper-technical, more introspective strings, and the slow fade-out, leaving just pounding drums and Sykes' throat-tearing bellows, leaves you feeling truly drained.

[HEADING=1]The TL;DR[/HEADING]

In the time I've been writing this, the album's been playing, and the last track, the minute-and-a-half blast of fury that is The Fox And The Wolf has just finished, and I'm reaching for the repeat button. I am so addicted to this album it's not even right. It baffles me how BMTH are so plagued, by idiots who listen with their eyes and not their ears, and their doubters. It just doesn't make sense when the music is so stunning, sweeping, progressive while remaining accessible. The hooks are shamelessly on the surface and this is why it's so brilliant. This is the modern metal album of the year.

Spoiler: Score

9/10

[HEADING=1]Recommended Tracks[/HEADING]

Spoiler: Crucify Me

Spoiler: Fuck

Spoiler: Blessed With A Curse

For Fans Of: Architects, In Flames.

 

[HentMas]

Yes, they look like tools, I know

holy crap in a crapstick!! that´s exactly what i thought!!!

i´ll... probably not hear it, but nice review anyway

 

[Gildan Bladeborn]

Yes, they look like tools, I know

holy crap in a crapstick!! that´s exactly what i thought!!!

I'm pretty sure everyone (except possibly the members of the band itself) think that as soon as they see that photograph. I can certainly understand why the band might find itself plagued with 'haters and skeptics' looking like they do, but until I saw this review pop up I wasn't really aware that they existed at all.

On the topic of the review itself and not the tool-osity of the band member's visual stylings: I automatically take issue with you calling something the "modern metal album of the year" when the word "deathcore" is present in the review in any capacity besides a term of derision, but I admittedly haven't listened to the tracks you provided Unabletothinkofname. Mostly because I'm at work, and listening to Into The Electric Castle right now, which has the advantage of being both something I already know I like and unlikely to bother my coworkers.

Maybe it's brilliant, but I still have a hard time believing it's better than the albums ReVamp, Blind Guardian, Kamelot, Tarot, Edenbridge, Myrath, Orphaned Land, Masterplan, Rhapsody Of Fire, Therion, Tarja, Mutiny Within, Orden Ogan, et all have all released this year, if only because you used the word "deathcore" at one point to describe it. I will give those tracks you've selected a listen when I'm back at home though, and we'll see if my immediate snap judgment is as accurate as it usually tends to be.

Edit after having (attempted) to listen to Crucify Me: Yeah... I spent about two minutes listening to someone make what was perhaps the most horrible noise I have ever heard come out of a human throat, and then I gave up - chalk one up for my instinctive snap judgments, because that was every bit as awful as I thought it was going to be. I don't even care if there are redeemable qualities in other parts of that song, or any of the other songs - you simply do not make that sound and get to grace my eardrums.

I feel like I've been violated.

 

[Madara XIII]

In the time I've been writing this, the album's been playing, and the last track, the minute-and-a-half blast of fury that is The Fox And The Wolf has just finished, and I'm reaching for the repeat button. I am so addicted to this album it's not even right. It baffles me how BMTH are so plagued, by idiots who listen with their eyes and not their ears, and their doubters. It just doesn't make sense when the music is so stunning, sweeping, progressive while remaining accessible. The hooks are shamelessly on the surface and this is why it's so brilliant. This is the modern metal album of the year.

LOL I love these guys. I first heard about them when they Released the Metal Mix Cover of the Double Rainbow song. What's your opinion on that song?

 

[scnj]

Blacklist is like a deathcore band covering dubstep. It's fucking weird.

 

[steevee]

Oh dear. You used the word 'haters' in all seriousness. Thats just..............just no!

To be honest, I have to say I don't think BMTH are anything special. The album is good, but a good example of nothing new. It's well executed, but they only get the hype because of their looks and style.

 

[WhamBamSam]

On the topic of the review itself and not the tool-osity of the band member's visual stylings: I automatically take issue with you calling something the "modern metal album of the year" when the word "deathcore" is present in the review in any capacity besides a term of derision, but I admittedly haven't listened to the tracks you provided Unabletothinkofname. Mostly because I'm at work, and listening to Into The Electric Castle right now, which has the advantage of being both something I already know I like and unlikely to bother my coworkers.

Maybe it's brilliant, but I still have a hard time believing it's better than the albums ReVamp, Blind Guardian, Kamelot, Tarot, Edenbridge, Myrath, Orphaned Land, Masterplan, Rhapsody Of Fire, Therion, Tarja, Mutiny Within, Orden Ogan, et all have all released this year, if only because you used the word "deathcore" at one point to describe it. I will give those tracks you've selected a listen when I'm back at home though, and we'll see if my immediate snap judgment is as accurate as it usually tends to be.

I wouldn't really call any of those bands - at least the ones that I'm somewhat familiar with/have read your reviews for - "modern metal." Power Metal,Progressive Metal, and Symphonic Metal are styles that have been around for a good while, and it's hard to call anything with folk elements "modern." I suspect by "modern" he's referring to styles that originated from the likes of Pantera, Fear Factory, and Korn. This of course makes "modern metal album of the year" somewhat akin to "coolest pocket protector ever," or "smartest kid with down syndrome." Even so though, I'd still say that Avenged Sevenfold and Disturbed fit the description, and Nightmare and Asylum are both much better than this.[footnote]Which reminds me, I'd been meaning to review Asylum. I think I'll write that up tonight.[/footnote]

Edit after having (attempted) to listen to Crucify Me: Yeah... I spend about two minutes listening to someone make what was perhaps the most horrible noise I have ever heard come out of a human throat, and then I gave up - chalk one up for my instinctive snap judgments, because that was every bit as awful as I thought it was going to be. I don't even care if there are redeemable qualities in other parts of that song, or any of the other songs - you simply do no make that sound and get to grace my eardrums.

I feel like I've been violated.

I made it up to 3 minutes and stopped more out of boredom and vague irritation than actual discomfort. As I said in my Opeth review, harsh vocals generally don't really bother me, but they don't really work as a replacement for clean vocals. They're more of an added instrument as they're generally a tad on the unintelligible side and don't really sound like the things one would expect to come from a human being. Without any progressive turns or strongly melodic guitar work, music that primarily uses harsh vocals gets dull pretty quickly.

It doesn't help that the screaming is, to a certain degree, genuinely irritating, but even with the best possible growls courtesy of someone like Mikael Akerfeldt, nothing I heard would be all that special. It isn't even like Mastodon or Death where the vocals cock up what would otherwise have been great, and I sort of feel bad about disliking it. There's nothing particularly redeeming here at all. They've somehow managed to be even more generic and uninteresting than Bullet For My Valentine, which is saying something.

 

[Gildan Bladeborn]

I suspect by "modern" he's referring to styles that originated from the likes of Pantera, Fear Factory, and Korn.

The irony there being that Pantera has been around for longer than just about every band I rattled off, but yes, I can see there's probably a distinction between 'modern metal' and metal from the modern era (pretty obvious what I think of the first category, bleh).

As I said in my Opeth review, harsh vocals generally don't really bother me, but they don't really work as a replacement for clean vocals. They're more of an added instrument as they're generally a tad on the unintelligible side and don't really sound like the things one would expect to come from a human being. Without any progressive turns or strongly melodic guitar work, music that primarily uses harsh vocals gets dull pretty quickly.

It doesn't help that the screaming is, to a certain degree, genuinely irritating, but even with the best possible growls courtesy of someone like Mikael Akerfeldt, nothing I heard would be all that special. It isn't even like Mastodon or Death where the vocals cock up what would otherwise have been great, and I sort of feel bad about disliking it. There's nothing particularly redeeming here at all. They've somehow managed to be even more generic and uninteresting than Bullet For My Valentine, which is saying something.

Part of that was hyperbole, as I think the actual most painful sound I've heard a human being produce whilst under the guise of 'singing' is whenever the lead vocalist of In This Moment screams (it is somehow infinitely worse than a man screaming nonstop), and harsh vocals by themselves don't necessarily turn me off a band either - I've come to appreciate them quite a bit depending on the context.

Spoiler: I really like this particular song for example.

So no, that wasn't really painful, just really really annoying and completely devoid of anything I find musically interesting - and the screams were just so damn prominent that even if the background accompaniment was brilliant (which it wasn't, as you so correctly point out) I probably wouldn't have noticed it. It's becoming increasingly apparent to me that the phrase "shitty deathcore band" contains an unnecessary adjective.

Spoiler: The broader umbrella of Metalcore though isn't ALWAYS horrible...

Though in Mutiny Within's case that's got more do with their very strong progressive leanings than the virtues of Metalcore.

I would chalk up our kindly and long-suffering OP as someone who just has terrible taste, but I've seen partial lists of just what he listens to for fun and there's a surprising degree of overlap between us that makes proclaiming this stuff to be brilliant all the more baffling. I really can't reconcile those facts in a way that makes sense.

(Totally agree with you on Bullet For My Valentine by the way.)

 

[2fish]

0. Nice review.

1. You are right that is a horrible picture.

2. I liked the music up until the vocals, but I kind of knew I wouldn't like the vocals from your description. They are not bad; I just don't like that style of metal.

3. Maybe you should make the picture a spoiler; I almost didn't make it past the picture.

 

[Dr. Whiggs]

God, I couldn't get past the first paragraphs. These yeasty queefs are the current face of metal? Even for a genre that socially inept that's pretty sad.

PS: this is not Rotten Tomatoes, keep the "hey look at me!" reviews to a paragraph or less.

 

[YuzL]

PS: this is not Rotten Tomatoes, keep the "hey look at me!" reviews to a paragraph or less.

At least he put a TL;DR at the end.
On topic: I personally could not get past maybe the first minute of Crucify Me, while like metal-core that is just bad..Sorry but I am more partial to Melodic Death metal and I some times like to be able to understand the lyrics with out going to straight mylyrics.com. I am all for screaming into the mic but at least break it up and put some actual singing in there.And I guess I hate them because most of the girls at my school will not shut up about them either it their hair or their tattoos. And I love In Flames but I hate this, maybe I'm different.
And Protip: When writing a review do not call people who dislike what your writing about idiots. It will only start a flame war.

 

[Aggressor and Usurper]

Well, these comments have pretty much made me want to give up reviewing completely.
Cheers.

To clarify: when I said "modern metal" I meant the umbrella genres of metalcore, deathcore, melodic death metal, etc. So I was just saying that in MY OPINION it's the best modern metal album of the year, and when the contenders are Fever (shit on a stick) and Asylum (wallpaper paste on a stick) I can afford to call it that.

I am strongly considering not posting any review I make here again because it's always the same people saying "you like this, you must have terrible taste, blah blah wark".

And what I meant by idiots are the people who have never heard BMTH in their lives, but look at the pictures and go "EMO FAGS! LOLOLOLOLOL!" There is apparently a depressing overlap with them and the comments on this review.

And possibly the most hilarious thing is the amount of people listening with their eyes. Really, for the "last bastion of intelligence on the internet" or whatever the hell the Escapist is called, that's pathetic.

As for what Gildan said, before I lost interest as he apparently did with the music, I simply have very broad tastes in metal. Yes, I will go from listening to Opeth or Porcupine Tree or Orphaned Land or whatever else it is you find "acceptable" to something like Bring Me The Horizon or Architects. Most metalcore is terrible, but this album genuinely impressed me and has made me stopped dismissing the genre as a whole. I knew from the moment I posted this review I was going to get negative feedback, but really, not this bad.

I'll be doing something on Porcupine Tree soon so you can complain about why I think In Absentia is better than Signify or something.

 

[MiracleOfSound]

The review was great, well written.

The music... I thought it was nice but the vocal style just didn't do much for me! Still, not bad by any means

 

[Aggressor and Usurper]

The review was great, well written.

The music... I thought it was nice but the vocal style just didn't do much for me! Still, not bad by any means

The vocals seem to be the main bone of contention for most people, yeah.

To everyone else: Apologies for my previous post, I'm not going to give up reviewing or anything, but as you may have gathered, I did get rather frustrated while reading the comments. As I've said, I knew that I'd be getting negative feedback on this.

So, to WhamBamSam and Gildan Bladeborn, I'll ask you to suggest something for me to review and I'll give it a whirl, so you can see that I don't have terrible taste. <_<

 

[Steel_crab]

Yes, they look like tools, I know

holy crap in a crapstick!! that´s exactly what i thought!!!

I'm pretty sure everyone (except possibly the members of the band itself) think that as soon as they see that photograph. I can certainly understand why the band might find itself plagued with 'haters and skeptics' looking like they do, but until I saw this review pop up I wasn't really aware that they existed at all.

On the topic of the review itself and not the tool-osity of the band member's visual stylings: I automatically take issue with you calling something the "modern metal album of the year" when the word "deathcore" is present in the review in any capacity besides a term of derision, but I admittedly haven't listened to the tracks you provided Unabletothinkofname. Mostly because I'm at work, and listening to Into The Electric Castle right now, which has the advantage of being both something I already know I like and unlikely to bother my coworkers.

Maybe it's brilliant, but I still have a hard time believing it's better than the albums ReVamp, Blind Guardian, Kamelot, Tarot, Edenbridge, Myrath, Orphaned Land, Masterplan, Rhapsody Of Fire, Therion, Tarja, Mutiny Within, Orden Ogan, et all have all released this year, if only because you used the word "deathcore" at one point to describe it. I will give those tracks you've selected a listen when I'm back at home though, and we'll see if my immediate snap judgment is as accurate as it usually tends to be.

Edit after having (attempted) to listen to Crucify Me: Yeah... I spend about two minutes listening to someone make what was perhaps the most horrible noise I have ever heard come out of a human throat, and then I gave up - chalk one up for my instinctive snap judgments, because that was every bit as awful as I thought it was going to be. I don't even care if there are redeemable qualities in other parts of that song, or any of the other songs - you simply do no make that sound and get to grace my eardrums.

I feel like I've been violated.

HATERS ARE NOT SILENCED. But seriously dude, if you don't like it, just say that you don't - Reviews are just people's opinions - If you want to express yours, make a counter-review saying it sucks - don't say that he appears to have misinterpreted his own opinion.

 

[MiracleOfSound]

God, I couldn't get past the first paragraphs. These yeasty queefs are the current face of metal? Even for a genre that socially inept that's pretty sad.

PS: this is not Rotten Tomatoes, keep the "hey look at me!" reviews to a paragraph or less.

1. Stating that metal is socially inept shows a very deep misunderstanding of the genre and culture associated with it. You are so, so wrong.

2. Peoples' reviews on this site tend to be a bit more detailed than one paragraph, and that's the way we like it.

Basically, you've added absolutely nothing to the discussion except two ignorant remarks which both make you look like a troll.

 

[Dr. Whiggs]

God, I couldn't get past the first paragraphs. These yeasty queefs are the current face of metal? Even for a genre that socially inept that's pretty sad.

PS: this is not Rotten Tomatoes, keep the "hey look at me!" reviews to a paragraph or less.

1. Stating that metal is socially inept shows a very deep misunderstanding of the genre and culture associated with it. You are so, so wrong.

2. Peoples' reviews on this site tend to be a bit more detailed than one paragraph, and that's the way we like it.

Basically, you've added absolutely nothing to the discussion except two ignorant remarks which both make you look like a troll.

Phooey, I say! Phooey on you, sir!

And if you disagree with this man, who is a DOCTOR, who works for NASA, then you are a naif and a coward! Good day to you!

 

[MiracleOfSound]

Phooey, I say! Phooey on you, sir!

And if you disagree with this man, who is a DOCTOR, who works for NASA, then you are a naif and a coward! Good day to you!

That guy is clearly an ignorant fuckwit who makes no effort at all to understand the music or accept the fact that people just have different taste to him.

An extract:

'it?s music for misfit nerds, sociopaths, big-haired whores and mulleted heshers. Cool wouldn?t touch metal with a ten foot pole, and metalheads are so hopelessly uncool that they?ve developed their own laughable little chic around leather and headbanging.'

I'm glad people like him don't understand metal, we're better off without them. Metal isn't about being fucking cool.

 

[WhamBamSam]

So, to WhamBamSam and Gildan Bladeborn, I'll ask you to suggest something for me to review and I'll give it a whirl, so you can see that I don't have terrible taste. <_<

No I don't think you have terrible taste in music, as there isn't any such thing, provided you have any distinct opinion at all. If you investigate a significant amount of music and find something you like then you're doing what you should be doing. I don't begrudge death metalheads or hipsters or what have you nearly so much as people who just swallow whatever the mainstream industry feeds them without even trying to listen to anything else. I'm probably just slightly irked by music like this because metal - diverse as it is - makes up such a small percentage of music and I get the (probably inaccurate) sense that it marginalizes the styles I enjoy. Also, I just feel that if I'm going to express a dissenting opinion, I should do it in more detail. Anyhow, apologies if I came across as a dick.

And I will take you up on that offer and ask that you review Burnt Offerings by Iced Earth.

 

[Dr. Whiggs]

Phooey, I say! Phooey on you, sir!

And if you disagree with this man, who is a DOCTOR, who works for NASA, then you are a naif and a coward! Good day to you!

That guy is clearly an ignorant fuckwit who makes no effort at all to understand the music or accept the fact that people just have different taste to him.

An extract:

'it?s music for misfit nerds, sociopaths, big-haired whores and mulleted heshers. Cool wouldn?t touch metal with a ten foot pole, and metalheads are so hopelessly uncool that they?ve developed their own laughable little chic around leather and headbanging.'

I'm glad people like him don't understand metal, we're better off without them. Metal isn't about being fucking cool.

You're an easy mark, do you know that?