Image: Bring Me The Horizon Live [Cat Eye Photography]
If you ever wanted to give a presentation on “musical transformation” in the rock and metal scene, Bring Me The Horizon would probably appear on most of the slides. The British band fronted by Oli Sykes has been around for more than 20 years; their debut album Count Your Blessings (2006) celebrates its 20th anniversary this year and is being re-released to mark the occasion. Back then, the band delivered raw deathcore, while their latest releases showcase a sound that skillfully combines influences from various genres into a signature BMTH package.
After their first live performances in the small clubs of their hometown Sheffield and the surrounding area, the band now commands some of the biggest stages in the world. Sold-out arena tours, headliner slots at international festivals—Bring Me The Horizon have done it all and adapted their production to match their ever-growing status. This year, they’ll headline the Nova Rock Festival in Austria and are set to bring the heat to Nickelsdorf.
It’s been an incredible journey—one marked by both highs and lows. We took a closer look at the rise of the British band from club shows to headliner status.
The Raw Early Days
Looking back at Bring Me The Horizon’s early years, it quickly becomes clear just how far they’ve come. Count Your Blessings was loud, chaotic, raw, and deeply rooted in deathcore. Despite the niche appeal of the genre, the British band managed to build a loyal—if clearly defined—fanbase.
But even with the follow-up Suicide Season (2008), it became obvious that standing still was never going to be an option for BMTH. The first melodic elements started creeping into the sound without abandoning the heaviness altogether. Those early records also produced some true fan favorites. Songs like “Pray for Plagues,” “Chelsea Smile,” and “Diamonds Aren’t Forever” still find their way into the band’s setlists today—to the delight of longtime fans.
Experimentation and Fan Criticism
The real turning point came with There Is a Hell Believe Me I’ve Seen It. There Is a Heaven Let’s Keep It a Secret. (2010). Here, the band’s sound became far more layered and experimental. Electronic elements were introduced, the songs became more expansive, and the overall atmosphere grew richer.
It was the first major step toward what would later define the band’s evolution. For many fans, this was an exciting development—but for others, it marked the beginning of criticism, and they weren’t shy about voicing it.
The Major Shift
The release of Sempiternal (2013) is widely considered the defining turning point in Bring Me The Horizon’s career. The addition of keyboardist and producer Jordan Fish brought a whole new dynamic to the band. Electronics, structure, and a stronger focus on hooks moved to the forefront—without completely abandoning their roots.
Songs like “Can You Feel My Heart” and “Sleepwalking” opened the door to a much broader audience, and in hindsight, this era stands as one of the most important milestones in the band’s career.
The shift in sound, however, divided the fanbase—and to some extent, it still does today. There are essentially two camps: those who were there from the beginning and only connect with the band’s early material up to There Is A Hell…, and those who identify more with the more diverse, polished, and ambitious sound that followed.
Commercially, though, the numbers spoke for themselves. Starting with Sempiternal, the band reached higher chart positions and significantly larger sales figures than ever before.
Higher and Higher
But instead of settling into that success, the band kept moving forward. That’s the Spirit (2015) moved even further away from metalcore, leaning more into alternative rock and huge melodies. At this point, it became clear: Bring Me The Horizon no longer wanted to be just part of a scene—they wanted to transcend it.
To this day, the album remains the band’s most commercially successful full-length release.
With amo (2019), the band widened their sonic range even further—and when we say “wider,” we really mean it. In terms of sound, amo stands out sharply within the band’s discography. Pop, electronic influences, and experimental song structures pushed BMTH into territory few would have expected from them at the start of their career.
Not every song landed with every fan, but one thing became crystal clear: the band had no interest in being boxed into one genre.
At the same time, their live profile continued to rise. Small clubs became arenas, arenas became massive festival stages. Today, Bring Me The Horizon are one of those rare acts capable of commanding crowds of hundreds of thousands—something they proved last year at Rock am Ring and Rock im Park, and are expected to prove once again at Nova Rock this year.
And they do it with a sound built for exactly those dimensions.
At Their Peak?
Their most recent releases—the two installments of the Post Human series released so far—feel like a culmination of all the phases the band has gone through. Heaviness, melody, electronics, experimentation—everything has its place here.
The road to this point wasn’t always straightforward, and it certainly wasn’t without controversy. But that journey is exactly what shaped the band.
What remains is a level of artistic development that is almost unmatched in the scene. Bring Me The Horizon never relied on the idea that what worked once would continue to work forever. Instead, they reinvented themselves again and again—and in doing so, solidified their place at the very top.
