A sad day for British Metal
I've haven't been following the progress of Bullet for my Valentine but I felt I was missing out on something as their reputation grew. I had heard reports of their conceited attitudes claiming themselves to be 'the next Metallica' and the pioneers of British heavy metal bent on world domination. With Lost Prophets currently flying the flag for the rock side of things, I was eager to listen to the four guys from Bridgend to see what they could offer the world of metal. Are they really the next Metallica? Are they the pioneers of British heavy metal? Read on.
Claiming to be the next Metallica is an odd thing in itself. Are you Master of Puppets Metallica? Load-era Metallica? Or St Anger Metallica? Was I going to hear huge metal symphonies revelling in musical creativity? Half assed pop rock? Or a mush of under baked and badly performed hype driven claptrap. On initial listen I was of the opinion that 'The Poison' was a bunch of pretty boy half assed pop rock and a mush of under baked bandwagon hype driven claptrap, but with time I was hoping my attitude would change. With such heavy weight producers as Colin Richardson and Andy Sneap in tow, my expectations were on the ceiling. 'How could they go wrong' I thought. 'The Poison' is a perfect example of style over substance as every second of this album is laced with quality recording and mixing. Colin and Andy have done their best to disguise the fact that this is a truly awful album, proving that not even the best producers can save a collection of annoying and badly written songs.
Bullet for my Valentine use harmonies on almost every riff they play. After a couple of songs of hearing the same harmony, it gets extremely irritating and doesn't let the actual riff cut through the music. It's as if they realised their riffs are so dull they decided to disguise them under a harmony hoping no one would notice how lacklustre they are. '10 Years today' is a perfect example of taking a really boring riff and adding a harmony in an effort to add some spice to it. The best way to incorporate harmonies is to use them sparingly, and when Bullet for my Valentine occasionally drop the harmonies and chock out a big riff, on for example 'Room 409', it's sounds great, but these moments are few and far between.
Lyrically the album is one step above school playground standard with such gems as; 'Don't scream I ask of you, but then you let one out, so now it's time to go. I come down on you like a ton of bricks, all over so it's time to go.' I don't know how long Matt Tuck took to write this mediocre nonsense but if it was longer than 10 minutes then I'd be surprised. The subject matter is along the lines of missing your girlfriend, which contradicts the screaming vocal style they've adopted. Lines such as 'Her fingers running through my hair but it's all just fiction, she steps out from her underwear you're so beautiful' are screamed by Matt Tuck and Jay James as if they've got 20 years of angst ridden hate to expel (Hearing the word 'Underwear' screamed like a banshee is a true comedy metal moment). Do these dire lyrics and generic subject matter really warrant such violent vocalisation? The whole experience seems forced and unconvincing, and I wonder if they're screaming NOT because they want to, but feel as if they HAVE to because they want to come across as a credible metal band. If the vocals aren't screamed they are wailed by Matt Tuck who on occasions whines out of key instead of coming up with an actual vocal melody. Perhaps this trick is to hide the fact his vocal style is more suited to an American punk band than a heavy metal band.
With a couple of exceptions, namely 'The End' and the boring ballad 'All these things I hate (Revolve around me)', all the songs are of the same ilk. If it weren't for the gaps between the songs I probably wouldn't know where I was on the CD. In fact it was five listens before I realised the gap between 'Tears don't fall' and 'Suffocating under words of sorrow' wasn't a clever musical stop at all, but a different song altogether. This is one dimensional song writing at it's worst and the fact that they lack a definitive melody, hook line or gargantuan riff just fuels the fact that Bullet for my Valentine lack decent ideas. There aren't any floor fillers like, 'Bodies' by Drowning Pool, or anthemic epics such as 'One' by Metallica, so it begs the question where do Bullet for my Valentine get their delusions of grandeur.
Every album has a redeeming feature and 'The Poison' is no different. Their lead breaks and solos are often exhilarating and played at a furious pace, however, in many of the tracks they seem to be slotted in because they don't tend to follow the natural progression of the song. 'Tears don't fall' illustrates this point perfectly because the song is pretty lifeless until the up-tempo instrumental break arrives out of nowhere. The lead breaks are the albums secret weapon as they are well played and well thought out. It also helps that these breaks don't have the annoying harmonies or irritating vocals, which, could be a reason why they work so well.
I really wanted to like this album, I love metal and I welcome any band that can put British Metal to the top of the tree. However, after many spins my opinion of 'The Poison' is still a half assed mush of under baked pretty boy bandwagon hype driven claptrap. Speaking as a true metal fan not seduced by such brouhaha, I can honestly say this quartet are aeons away from being the next Metallica let alone be British metal pioneers. With vocalist Matt Tuck having to be taken to hospital for exhaustion due to not having a day off for three months. I couldn't help thinking that Bullet for my Valentine have a long way to go if they want world domination, especially in light of the fact that British Doom-Masters Cathedral still have day jobs AS WELL as being on their 8th album.
It makes me sad that acts such as Kill2this and Primary Slave have fallen by the wayside through lack of support and acts such as Bullet for my Valentine reap all the media coverage. If you're a fan of acts such as Atreyu or if you're under the age of 16 then you'll probably love this album and will no doubt think I'm an idiot (or worse) for giving it a grilling. If you want some quality metal from the 'real' pioneers of British Metal then check out Biomechanical, Dragonforce and even Cathedral themselves. If it's just metal in general you're after then do yourself a favour and purchase some Machine Head or Exodus and leave this album to rot in the bargain bin.