Bring Me The Horizon - Count Your Blessings (Hot Topic Edition) (2007)

Count Your Blessings is the debut studio album by British rock band Bring Me the Horizon. Recorded at DEP International Studios in Birmingham with producer Dan Sprigg, it was originally released in the United Kingdom on 30 October 2006 by Visible Noise. The album was later issued by Earache Records in the United States on 14 August 2007. Count Your Blessings was supported by the release of music videos for two of the album's tracks: "Pray for Plagues" on 4 June 2007 and "For Stevie Wonder's Eyes Only (Braille)" on 6 March 2008.

Named after a lyric in the album's opening song "Pray for Plagues", Count Your Blessings is representative of the band's early deathcore sound, which was phased out on later releases and eventually abandoned in favour of other, less aggressive styles. Most band members recorded their parts individually, rather than the group doing so as a whole, with the central location of the studio blamed for distracting the young musicians. The album received some negative reviews, although it still reached the top 100 of the UK Albums Chart.

Media response to Count Your Blessings was mixed to negative. AllMusic's Stewart Mason praised the album for being "vaguely interesting musically", claiming that there is "a greater sense of dynamic than usual" in the genre on the release. Chad Bowar for About.com highlighted the band within their scene, praising their "catchy melodies" and "decent riffs and solos", and on Count Your Blessings welcomed the variety in styles of vocal delivery across the collection. Exclaim! writer Bill Whish wrote positively about the release, praising the "vitriolic lyrics and brutally heavy guitar work" and welcoming the band as "a little more interesting" than some other metalcore artists. DIY magazine's Tom Connick dubbed "(I Used to Make Out With) Medusa" the "crowning jewel" of Count Your Blessings in a 2014 feature, claiming that it "Perfectly captures that youthful, drunken recklessness that defined the band's most controversial years" with its "razor sharp" guitar work and "thunderous breakdowns".

However, many commentators criticised the lack of invention on the album. Mason panned it for featuring "generally unimaginative songwriting", which he claimed added "little to the existing knowledge base" of the genre. He also criticised Sykes's vocal style on the record, which he described as an "immediately irritating" and a "high-pitched gibber". Similarly, Bowar dubbed the album "way too generic and repetitive", claiming that it features "too many breakdowns" and a majority of "extremely forgettable" songs. Axl Rosenberg of MetalSucks complained that the band displayed "nothing to distinguish them from the pack" on the album, although he did praise the presence of "some decent breakdowns" and claim that the songs would make "good background noise".

Oliver Sykes – vocals
Lee Malia – guitars
Curtis Ward – guitars
Matt Kean – bass
Matt Nicholls – drums


Track List:
01. Pray For Plagues (04:21)
02. Tell Slater Not To Wash His Dick (03:30)
03. For Stevie Wonder's Eyes Only (Braille) (04:29)
04. A Lot Like Vegas (02:09)
05. Black & Blue (04:33)
06. Slow Dance (01:16)
07. Liquor & Love Lost (02:39)
08. (I Used To Make Out With) Medusa (05:39)
09. Fifteen Fathoms, Counting (01:56)
10. Off The Heezay (05:39)
11. Eyeless (Slipknot Cover) (Bonus Track) (04:04)