BRING ME THE HORIZON — Suicide Season (review)

BRING ME THE HORIZON — Suicide Season album cover

Album · 2008 · Metalcore

1/5 · 2010-05-04
DeathOfSeasons

Bring Me the Horizon, along with Job for a Cowboy and Suicide Silence, were the leaders of the Deathcore scene. Having formed in 2004, they quickly released their debut EP, "This is What the Edge of Your Seat Was Made For" in the same year of their formation. Two years later they released "Count Your Blessings", a more Deathcore styled release than the mostly Metalcore sound of their debut EP. Following the release of Count Your Blessings Bring Me the Horizon quickly gained a rapidly expanding fanbase. No band in the Deathcore scene were bigger than they were. However, then they released "Suicide Season".

Suicide Season is quite a big departure from Count Your Blessings. First of all, the whole Deathcore sound has been thrown away and they are now an incredibly mainstream Metalcore band. I'm not sure what inspired the change in sound. I don't know whether Bring Me the Horizon grew bored of the Deathcore scene and wanted to change things with a new, improved sound or if they sold out for the $$$. Though I can tell you this: If they did it for the former then they failed. Big time.

Like I've already said, this album is very mainstream. From the vocals to the general heaviness of the record, everything has been toned down. In fact, I wouldn't be surprised to hear tracks from this album on commercial radio. Most songs here are quite catchy and very accessible, perfect for someone looking to get into Metal music. However, this album also sounds dumbed down. Sure, they have somewhat experimented with electronic effects ("Chelsea Smile" for example) and guest vocalists ("Football Season Is Over") but this album is really quite simple.

Let's start with the vocals. Oliver Sykes was never a good vocalist, and it is more obvious on this album than ever before. More or less abandoning his growls for some terrible hybrid of screaming and talking, it was a bad decision. His vocals sound like some angry pissed off riot guy yelling at the government for screwing him over in workplace choices. He's at his worst on "Chelsea Smile" where his vocals (especially during the opening of the song) sound more like rhythmic speaking than singing. He manages to sound pretty pissed off on tracks such as "No Need for Introductions, I've Read About Girls Like You on the Back of Toilet Doors", but it comes at the expense of sounding like he's trying too hard.

The riffs here are quite catchy. Sounding quite simple yet bouncy, it's hard to get the riffs found in "Chelsea Smile" and "It Was Written in Blood" out of your head. However, that's not to say they're good. Almost all of them sound the same, and you could swap one with the other and not really take any notice. They do their job decently enough, but when you listen to other Metalcore bands such as Bleeding Through and Parkway Drive you can't help but feel disappointed with what Bring Me the Horizon have done.

The drumming, well it's nothing great. Pretty standard really. They more or less play along with the guitars and don't really achieve anything interesting. Also, they have the horrible triggered Metalcore sound to them which is really distracting. It just sounds so mechanical. While that sound can work well in bands such as The Amenta, it just sounds horrible here.

I don't even know where to begin with the lyrics. They're everything that is bad about Metalcore. Coming across as ridiculously cheesy and stupid, I strongly recommend you avoid reading them. It's as if Oli is trying to be deep and meaningful, but crap like "We will never sleep 'cos sleep is for the weak" and "We stare at broken clocks, the hands don't turn anymore" is just downright embarrassing. And I won't even bring up the lyrics to "Sleep With One Eye Open", which contains lyrics that would even make I Killed the Prom Queen cringe.

Honestly, there is very little to like in this album. Almost everything here has been done better elsewhere. The vocals are horrible, the guitar work and drumming is average and the songs themselves aren't even memorable. Whether it's the fast paced "No Need for Introductions, I've Read About Girls Like You on the Back of Toilet Doors" or mainstream radio fodder of "Suicide Season", everything here is completely forgettable.

Download: The Comedown

For fans of: Anime Fire, Still Remains

(Originally written for Rate Your Music)