Metal veterans Bullet For My Valentine are now on their seventh album, which sees them hitting out into heavier territory or as vocalist/guitarist Matt Tuck sees it – “This is the beginning of Bullet 2.0” I must admit I’ve rather enjoyed Bullet over the years and as a live band they were always capable of delivering the goods so to ramp it up a notch or two is an interesting development.
Overall this self-titled release (always a give-away of a reinvention) is rather impressive – riff heavy, full of solos, it’s the sort of reinvention that only requires self-belief to get it off the ground and this one is certainly full of the required passion. It’s also rather impressively angry and with the times we’re living through it feels just right.
It’s all perfectly displayed in opener ‘Parasite’ – unmistakably Bullet, but a very much pissed off Bullet and similarly the single ‘Knives’ has that raw aggression that is sure to please the faithful and turn some new heads too.
It’s not all about brute force though, there are some rather interesting things within the grooves too that sees the band push the envelope – like the madness of ‘Rainbow Veins’ and the gritty ‘Motorheady’ Bastards. But if you want safety – in the form of unmistakable BFMV then you’ll love the meat of the album and tracks like ‘My Reverie’ (My current favourite) the thrasher ‘Paralysed’ and the huge groove and chorus of ‘Shatter’. What lies in-between those moments is just as good.
Definitely up there with the best heavy releases of the year.
8/10