Bullet For My Valentine

About Bullet For My Valentine

Before you even press play, you know that a song from the Welsh metalcore rockers Bullet For My Valentine isn't going to be about sunshine and rainbows. The band keep their metal real and brutal and their hair long, lest they be mistaken for softer emo punks. During their primal live shows they even play black, flying V guitars! You'd think that maybe, then, Bullet For My Valentine could be walking the fine line between nostalgia kitsch and the real deal but at that point the songs speak up for themselves. You can hear the melodies buried deep in Bullet For My Valentine tracks, but you have to work to find them since they're usually submerged under walls of crashing guitars and drums. It also doesn't hurt that the lithe lead singer and guitarist Mathew Truck is a delinquent drea, decked out in ripped jeans and no eye makeup whatsoever. But the metal poster boy has the vocal skills to back up his image, and his voice can jump from a threatening rasp to an animal bellow in the space of a chorus. Lead guitarist Michael "Padge" Paget compliments his band-mate nicely, and has no difficulty providing deeply atmospheric grooves or blistering shred solos. Bullet For My Valentine went through several incarnations (metal cover band, nu-metal band) and released several independent EP's in the UK before recording their smash debut full-length, The Poison. Something in the album spoke to the disenchanted and angry youth of modern Britain, and the group's first single "4 Words (To Choke Upon)" earned them radio play. Subsequent singles included the heart-wreck anthem "Suffocating Under Words Of Sorrow (What Can I Do)" and "All These Things I Hate (Revolve Around Me.)" Since hitting it big in the UK and cultivating a cult audience of metal enthusiasts in the United States, Bullet For My Valentine have had the opportunity to open for many of their heroes, including the re-formed Guns n' Roses and Metallica.