Before we even heard a note of their music, we were immediately drawn to British metalcore band Bring Me the Horizon. There was something about the cover art of their second full album, Suicide Season, that spoke volumes.

The image -- seen above -- depicts a pretty girl in a black dress holding a huge handful of bloody, dripping intestines. It wasn't entirely the blood and guts that hooked us. We've got piles of gorier album art from bands we wouldn't listen to for a free meal at Nobu. Our attraction had more to do with blank expression on the girl's face, her perfectly formed hair, the blood spatter on her arms. Look at the top half of the pic and it could be an anxious girl at her friend's wedding.

Anyway, the artwork convinced us to check out this British phenomenon, and guess what? They're pretty good -- chaotic, turbulent, enraged and gifted in the art of the breakdown. Some of the riffs are even kinda catchy, though, overall, the band is more memorable for its machine-gun rhythms, piercing guitar squeals, falling-down-the-stairs beats and sociopathic vocal rants, which seem like they're pieced together impulsively by vocalist Oli Sykes before he chews them up and spits them back in our faces.

When we asked someone from the band to send us a guest blog, we had no idea what to expect, but it kinda makes sense that the resulting email from guitarist Curtis Ward is full of stream-of-consciousness penmanship. What surprised us was how close he seems to be to his mommy. Dude, has she even seen your cover art or tour shirts? Click "more" to read Ward's blog and watch a promo clip for the band's current U.S. tour. Read more...