January 2022 Feature Release – The Revolution Edition
So just like that we find that a new month is upon us which of course means that we’ll be nominating a brand new monthly feature release for each clan. This essentially means that we’re asking you to rate, review & discuss our chosen features for no other reason than because we enjoy the process & banter. We’re really looking forward to hearing your thoughts on our chosen releases so don’t be shy.
This month’s feature release for The Revolution has been nominated by Andi. It's the brand new self-titled seventh album from English melodic metalcore outfit Bullet For My Valentine.
https://metal.academy/releases/32141
Thanks Daniel for accepting my feature release submission! Here's its summary:
The new self-titled BFMV album marks a near-return to their earlier heaviness. BFMV have been part of my metalcore arsenal for 4 years, and their latest album at that time, Venom is a real headbanger with slight redemption of quality. Then in 2018, Gravity is a half-sh*tty nu metal backstabber. I thought if they released another album like that, I would start avoiding that band for good. Fast forward to the present with their self-titled album grabbing my attention with genuine heavy metalcore with growls to have you fist-pumping and headbanging in no time, though there are clean groove tracks with singing. This band sure knows how to bring on their heavy artillery. Trivium has also done that with their new album the prior month, and if Bring Me the Horizon fully return to metalcore with their next Post Human release, that would make my day. Despite the quality not being same as earlier, BFMV deserves greatness for their killer comeback....
4/5
Recommended tracks: "Parasite", "Knives", "No Happy Ever After", "Rainbow Veins", "Death by a Thousand Cuts"
For fans of: Trivium, There is a Hell/Post Human-era Bring Me the Horizon, late 2000s Machine Head
Ok, so I have to admit that I went into this record with a fairly skeptical mindset given the generally mediocre response that Bullet For My Valentine seem to draw from most dedicated metalheads. I'd only heard bits & pieces of the band previously through my time programming The Revolution playlists (mainly through Andi's track submissions) but had never made the commitment to explore a full album which is hardly surprising given my usual aversion to melodic metalcore (or melodic anything for that matter). This record has really surprised me though & I think it deserves to be given a chance as it's one heavy muthafucka! Don't get me wrong, you can still expect to hear a fair few Linkin Park style choruses but they're done very well for the most part with the hooks offering a bit more than your average pop metal schlock can muster. There are some guargantuan metal riffs included that bands like Judas Priest or Pantera would be proud of though & the production job is absolutely metal as fuck. Michael Paget's lead guitar tone may shred the paint off your walls actually.
To my great surprise I found that I quite like all of the ten tracks on offer here & can see myself returning to "Bullet For My Valentine" in the future too. I don't see where the links to alternative metal or the comparisons to Trivium are coming from because this is about twenty times as metal as those references would seem to indicate. In fact, there are significant thrash & groove metal influences here with album highlight "Shatter" being taken straight from Dimebag Darrel's old playbook. I certainly can do without the commercially angled gang vocal parts but this is a quality metal release that deserves more respect than it's received online to date. It may not be the most original metal record ever but when has that ever stopped metalheads from enjoying well executed & supremely heavy metal music.
4/5
I didn't listen to this album last year, but did come across "Parasite" on a whim, and being very surprised by the drastic change in direction after being swallowed whole by the "Imagine Dragon" on their last album. This was heavier, less electronics, fast and lots of harsh vocals. When I listened to the album and saw "Parasite" as the opener, followed by snippets of BFMV's greatest hits, I saw the band hinting at changing their sound; either to the applause or disdain of their fans. I appreciated it because they could always hold a melody together and "Parasite" is a good opener.
The rest of the album? Well it has moments; the more thrash adjacent stuff like "Paralysed" near the top of that department. "Can't Escape The Waves" is a mid album "ballad" that harkens back to "All These Things I Hate (Revolve Around Me)" with a surprising style change during the intro. It does feel like a little bit too much going on, but the faint sustain triads in the lead guitar bring it all together. And "Shatter" for having a solid melodic chorus to go along with a Bring Me The Horizon meets Pantera instrumental that was very well done.
This albums has a lot of harsh vocals on it...perhaps a little too much. There were quite a few points on this record, most notably in "Knives" and "Bastards" where the constant swapping between Matt's cleans singing and harsh screaming is kind of bad; like the band wanted to sound heavy so they threw in as many screamed vocals as possible, when in reality, BFMV were never this egregious with it. The heaviest moments on The Poison like "Hand of Blood" had harsh vocals, but they felt deserved and not shoehorned in. Beyond that "Bastards" sounds like a rejected Three Days Grace song, "My Reverie" is incredibly basic fundamentally, the thematic arc of this record is anti-authority, but could have used a couple more rough drafts as they feel interchangeable with anti-authority records by Muse. And production wise, it sounds a lot more open with its space than either Spiritbox or Trivium's last albums, but if you can hear the bass during some of the isolated moments, you're ears are far more equipped than mine. Why it does not feel as dense during the softer portions is beyond me.
In the end, this is a great improvement from 2018's Gravity. But Bullet For My Valentine's recent venture's after changing label's from Sony to UMG has had them kill their personality with Gravity, and now this feels like the apology tour. Unfortunately this apology feels half assed as it tries to lure you in with its chugging guitars and harsh vocals, while anyone who knows what BFMV once sounded knows that this is only for the clout.
6/10