“Another band said they were going to shave all our hair off and beat us up”: Bring Me The Horizon on how Count Your Blessings made them the most divisive thing in metal

Bring Me The Horizon frontman Oli Sykes has spoken to Metal Hammer about the band's 2006 debut album Count Your Blessings and its enduring reputation as one of the most divisive records in metal. The interview coincides with the announcement that the band have re-recorded the album, releasing it as Count Your Blessings | Repented and performing it in full for the first time at two shows in Manchester in July. The piece reflects on how the raw, deathcore-influenced debut both won a devoted early fanbase and drew hostility from metal's establishment.

Sykes recalls that when he posted an Instagram clip of himself re-recording the death growls on opening track Pray For Plagues, fans immediately criticised his technique, and rock blogs amplified the row into "Oli Sykes comes back at the fans" headlines. The article notes that the under-produced, juvenile album captured the band when Sykes was just 19, winning over "scene kids" on MySpace despite resistance from metal's old guard, with one rival band reportedly threatening to shave their hair off and beat them up. Since then, Bring Me The Horizon have released six further albums and become one of the biggest heavy bands in the world, with the 2013 album Sempiternal cited as a blueprint for modern metal; the band were speaking from their North American tour, which includes a sold-out show at Madison Square Garden.