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

(05 Mar 2011)

There Is a Hell, Believe Me I've Seen It. There Is a Heaven, Let's Keep It a Secret (I won't call it "TIAHBMISITIAHLKIAS" because that is like some demented Scandinavian name) sounds like Kanye West trying to do a metal classic instead of My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy. In other words, you have the transcendentally fantastic production and added atmospheric synths, backing atmospheric vocals, backing atmospheric guitars and backing atmospheric [anything else] on the foreground, and then you have the same old Bring Me The Horizon being generic in new and innovative ways in the background.

The Yorkshire band definitely does its best to prove its worth with this release, and for the first half of the album, they were quite successful. I had decided to listen their single "It Never Ends" for shits and elitist giggles, until I quickly realized just how much they had improved. I didn't yet know what it was, but something had happened that made BMTH sound awesome and really accessible at the same time. There was some really strange atmosphere, some really interesting variation, and a orgasm-inducing production. I had, in under a minute, changed from a hater to an admirer. It definitely caught my interest enough to make listen to the whole album. I enjoyed most of it until "Alligator Blood", and that's where everything goes bad. The first half may be only slightly better than the second, but by then you realize that the songs all follow the same strict formula of old, and that what you had truly loved so far was the production. The production is magnificent.

Some songs don't follow that old formula, and some of them ended up as the best on the album, while others, more specifically "Memorial/Blessed With A Curse" ended up really bland. It seems that BMTH still can't decide whether they want to become a mature band, or want to stay superficial. The album basically consists of rather bland and uninteresting chugging with awesome things thrown on top. It's kind of like if Scary Movie had been done by Stanley Kubrick. Nevertheless, a great step forward for the band. Also, the production is magnificent.
Standout tracks:

Crucify Me
It Never Ends
Don't Go
Home Sweet Hole  -  (at about half the song, it sound like Oli yells "PAT YOUR DOG!". Just a lil' thing that may be slightly amusing)