When I first heard the name Bullet For My Valentine (U.K.) I thought of a typical emosounding band. Well, I got that wrong for sure! Yes, some of you would describe it as emocore. But do not forget to add a hell lot of straight from the heart metal to it.

Cause that is what Bullet For My Valentine is.

After one mini album and a few cd and 7” singles they thought it was about the right time to launch their debut album. And some debut it is! The Poison is nothing but a blast of energy.

 

The intro song is the only really easy going song on their album. It got some nice violins in it and ends up with a great sounding guitar solo. Well, like the song is named, it is an intro song. After that…wham! Double wham!!! Heavy as Machine Head and as tight as Pantera.

 

No wonder this four piece went straight to number one in the rock charts: with four bullets.

 

All These Things I Hate (revolve around me) and Suffocating Under Words Of Sorrow (what can I do) are their two singles. All These Things~ is pretty catchy and Suffocating Under~ is more heavier. All songs are really melodic but still got that ponderous heaviness in it.

 

Their music is very technical. It takes a lot of skills to play what they play that tight. Matt Tuck’s voice even reminded me of Machine Head frontman Rob Flinn’s voice. He can sing with a powerful distortion in his voice but clean at the same time.

 

The production is also done well. It looks like he used triggers for the drums. Those double bass patterns sound just like a machine drill…awesome! And the guitars, full sounding heavy but clear distortions. This creates, together with the mix that Bullet For My Valentine plays, a very typical sound. They got very melodic emocore things in it but at the same time these more than ‘just heavy’ metal riffs and drums. A great combination if you’d ask me.

The only minus that could be is that there is not much variation in style. But on the other hand, why should you if you totally rock in that what you do?

 

Expect to hear a lot more from this band. They sure got the motivation as they say they want to become the John Lennon’s of metal. You can check them out in Amsterdam Melkweg next Thursday the ninth of March.

 

Some interesting sites to check out if this review made you curious:

 

http://www.purevolume.com/bulletformyvalentine

 

Love,

Maurits