Bring Me The Horizon – There Is A Hell, Believe Me I’ve Seen It. There Is A Heaven, Let’s Keep It A Secret

To me, the bands Bring Me The Horizon and Between The Buried And Me have always be interchangeable and passable. While quite different in their own respective sound, to me they merged together and neither stood out or made any type of impression.  I heard an odd album here and there but just shoved them to the side.

That is, until now. Now I’ve differentiated them as Bring Me The Horizon have skyrocketed to the forefront.

I once again wrote off There Is A Hell, Believe Me I’ve Seen It. There Is A Heaven, Let’s Keep It A Secret before even listening to it – based on preconceived notions and an annoyance with the overly long (but incredibly clever) title.  After hearing that they were the calculated to bethe most popular band on MySpace beating out Justin Bieber, Lade Gaga and countless others, I felt it was my duty to actually give them a fair shot.

And boy, am I glad I did.

There Is A Hell… is a hauntingly beautiful hardcore/metalcore album that takes me out of the comfort of my punk rock niche with ease and confidence. The album pummels through with unrelenting ferocity. It is heavy, dense and complex with easily one of the best vocalists in the scene today but then they reel it in at just the right moment.  Throwing in some slight techno-y breakdowns, Bring Me The Horizon breaks from the metalcore mold and throws in some post-hardcore melodies. They’re softer, quieter moments, but more biting and searing than any double bass kick could ever deliver.

Take the three-minute instrumental Memorial with it’s Dredg like qualities. It’s soft and ominous, growing ever so slightly before merging seamlessly into the spastic yet reserved Blessed With A Curse. By the time the song explodes with gang vocals for the chorus, the intensity and emotion had become physically palpable; and that’s only one of the many examples of it.

Don’t Go is the track that first sold me on Bring Me The Horizon. Vocalist Oliver Sykes is at his best, displaying true emotion and sincerity in his raspy delivery of lyrics of doubt, regret and confusion; and the guest appearance of Lights adds an extra layer to the tune. It could be considered the ballad of the album but that diminishes its true power of the track.

But Bring Me The Horizon doesn’t need to reel it in to succeed. Listen to Alligator Blood and you’ll be surrounded on all sides by gang vocals, break-neck riffs and the most intense drumming of the album. Tracks like Visions, Anthem, Fuck and It Never Ends are all prime examples of what can be done in this genre without falling victim to contrived repetitiveness.

As I sit here, replaying the album over and over again; I’m reminded of one album: Refused’s The Shape of Punk to Come. Maybe it won’t have such a lasting influence as the Swedish hardcore band but there’s potential here for Bring Me The Horizon to reshape the way metalcore is done. There’s a reason why they’re the most popular band on MySpace and now I know why.