Album Review: Fever by Bullet For My Valentine

This is going to blow your mind... If you’re a Bullet fan this is going to blow your mind. Covered with all the big choruses and catchy riffs that made Bullet For My Valentine a force from inception, ‘Fever’ is constantly on a melody-heavy crusade for anthems. Always willing to provide their faithful with hooks large enough to threaten arenas, the Welsh quartet have not only kept the form, they’ve unashamedly embraced it.Although there’s less thrash content than previous album ‘Scream Aim Fire’, the band do retain the aggression that pleased fans from that outing.

Full Review >>

Welsh thrash/metalcore band Bullet for My Valentine sold a lot of records out of the gate with their 2006 album The Poison, blending old-school metal riffing and emo lyrical content in a manner similar to Stateside peers like Atreyu. On their second album, 2008's Scream Aim Fire, they evolved into a much more aggressive and assured metal act, going a little easier on the overwrought diary-entry lyrics in favor of Trivium-style anthems like "Eye of the Storm" and "Waking the Demon. " On their third disc, they consolidate their style and split the difference between their two previous discs, offering ultra-clean singing and overwrought lost-love lyrics atop a bed of gated and triggered drums, staccato guitar riffing, and arena-friendly soloing.

Full Review >>

Fever begins with a militaristic thudding drum attack, before singer Matt Tuck asks the not unreasonable question: "Am I going insane, my blood is boiling inside my veins?" It's a visceral start, but the tone calms down with The Last Fight and A Place Where You Belong. In fact, throughout the walls of sound that are built up by Michael Paget's and Tuck's guitars there's a strong ear for melody of the type that's lifted them out of the metal aisles of record shops and into the mainstream. Fun, but noisy enough to make your parents worry about your ears.

Full Review >>

Fever will raise the temperatures of metal fans across the globe. Raziq Rauf 2010 Bullet for My Valentine are the biggest British metal band since Iron Maiden. That’s a statement that (still) rankles the more pernickety metal fan, who continues to claim that, because BFMV focus on huge tunes (and have a penchant for syrupy ballads) rather than huge lyrics, and have meticulously straightened hair that’s more salon than sweatbox, they lack credibility.

Full Review >>