Bullet For My Valentine – Fever

So after what seems like a monumental break in between albums and various vocal issues with lead singer Matt Tuck, Bullet For My Valentine are back with new album ‘Fever’. The long wait means they have a lot to prove to their patient fans. So when the opener ‘Your Betrayal’ kicks in with a pounding, almost military drum beat, we get a good feeling, the kind we imagine a boxer would get as he makes his way down to the ring. Sadly when the vocals kick in we aren’t met by Mike Tyson, more Pugsy The Bear. Less a sinister whisper more like sweet nothings. Once Matt kicks in with the full vocals though we get flattened by Pugsy and realise that Matt has in the time away rid his vocal demons (vocal nodules) and come back bigger, stronger with full-on fucking metal. With this effort they are showing all the wannabe metal acts like Black Tide how this shit is really done. We feel Bullet For My Valentine haven’t really been embraced as much as they should be, they are an immense band with the capability to blow arenas away and make a festival epic. Perhaps it has something to do with the disappointing decision to pull out of a supporting slot with Metallica due to Matt’s necessary vocal chord operation.

There is a good mix of full on ear-popping metal, melodic metal and the odd ‘ballad’ all with the BFMV twist in full effect.The one thing we noticed was that after merely two plays we were left with various melodies/riffs implanted deep in our minds leaving us whistling, humming and even doing the odd air guitar. Track ‘Pretty on the Outside’,which is for us the best track on the album, is an all rounder and a perfect song to sum up the album, it’s chorus is tattooed on out brain ‘if I tear you open wide, take a look inside, are you Pretty’. If Bullet manage to pull these off these songs live, continuing their reputation for lavish stage shows and pyro alongside faultless performances we can see them achieving the success we feel they deserve. This should silence all doubters and rally the supporters. Bullet For My Valentine your time is now….
9/10

Words: Ian Arnold

Tags: Bullet for my Valentine, Fever, Matt Tuck, Your Betrayal