Bring Me The Horizon's deathcore era is such a unique thing to look back on, whether it's the complete surprise of how heavy they used to be or the long-time elitist hate of them no longer being "heavy" compared to this. A good chunk of the metal scene consider Count Your Blessings a deathcore classic, and for what it's worth, it's Pray For Plagues only deathcore classic so far that I've actually grown to like, which is a feat to be quite honest.
I used to be very unimpressed by this song because I found the lyrical content super unappealing, but I've grown to accept that it's just a reflection of the kind of writing they made when they were quite literally teenagers. Add the fact that the band itself has more or less set this era of their musical career aside, repeatedly mentioned that the lyrics don't mean anything and that they don't like playing it, I think it's respectable that they know it didn't really age the best and it's not something to keep holding on to. Setting that aside, it's quite an impressive deathcore song. Of course, it took a long time to grow on me, especially with the production quality, but the roughness of it eventually became a part of the listening experience, much like grindcore and older death metal.
The thing I've come to enjoy the most about this song is the guitarwork. Call me biased, but I am a guitarist first (for now), and learning this song has made me appreciate the writing in this era of the band. Some of the riffs on this track are the best of their entire discography, and for the average modern metal guitarist, actually challenging and interesting. As much as I love Bring Me The Horizon's current day music, it's not as fun to play on guitar. The section after the first breakdown has a super fun riff that I absolutely love playing, the pinch harmonics are fun to pull off and the short sweep picking section felt super cool to learn.
Nevertheless, the rest of the song is great too. Hearing such a different texture of Oli's voice is so cool, even if I'm glad he doesn't do this anymore since it screwed up his vocal cords. The drumming hits all deathcore standards and impressive to some extent, even if that kick drum sound is kinda weird. It really goes to show how much they've evolved as a band, from a young group of boys making music as edgy as possible, to now when their music output is super refined and constantly pushing the boundaries. What's even cooler is that you can clearly see their talent, skill and effort has always been a core part of their band, no matter what they were writing. Count Your Blessings may not be a record that I put on often, if at all, but it is an important piece of their band's history, with Pray For Plagues as the best showcase of this era.
Rating: 3.5/5