Bullet for My Valentine - Scream Aim Fire (2008)Release ID: 9485
Bullet for My Valentine instantly ascending to fame with their metalcore debut The Poison, then they went on to improve their sound. And it's a heavier improvement before its later downfall into hard rock/alt-metal...
Scream Aim Fire is a strong heavy album where they took the time to structure songs into works of art. They have great potential talent! The guitar tone is also greatly placed in solos and screaming vocals over chaotic drums and thrashy bass. This is certainly a reckless album, one that adds more metal than core. Read that, Metal Archives?! You gotta listen before you make your judging call!
The album starts with the furious title track, containing pounding drums, fired-up screams in the breakdown ("Scream! Aim!! FIRE!!!"), and a signature guitar solo that's #1 in this album! "Eye of the Storm" continues the thrash-metalcore action with a thunderous riff and another signature guitar solo. "Hearts Burst Into Fire" is a bit slower and more uplifting while maintaining the heavy sound. The ultimate extreme metalcore track of this album is "Waking the Demon". This is the heaviest song here with a monstrous riff and a crazy shredding solo. Matt Tuck and Jason James have a total scream-off in the verses.
"Disappear" continues the fast heaviness, though not as heavy as the previous songs. "Deliver Us From Evil" is probably the lightest non-ballad song of the album, and it has the first bass solo to be heard here. Another one of my album favorites, "Take It Out On Me" shows the band taking out an amazing intro riff, Matt's own guitar solo, and the second bass solo of this album that's better than the previous one. Benji Webbe from Skindred contributes guest vocals in that song.
"Say Goodnight" is the ballad- sorry, semi-ballad of this album, starting with acoustic intro then the song gets heavier through the chorus. "End of Days" shows that the earlier days of The Poison have not ended but you might not hear a lot of that kind of sound in later albums. "Last to Know" is an instant BFMV classic for me with a good intro riff and good guitar solo to soar back and forth through your ears. The final song in this album, "Forever and Always" is another slow and uplifting song, this time 7 minutes long. I won't say much about that one, other than not being as great as the previous album's 7-minute "End".
Scream Aim Fire is so unlike most other albums out there. This album and The Poison have remained true BFMV classic albums, though The Poison is the bigger classic. There's everything to love and barely anything for the haters. Sure there are a few acoustic moments, but the extreme side hits you hard and just keeps going until the end. Any metalhead should get this album and listen to the whole thing, maybe even have a backup copy in case you lose your first one. You don't wanna miss this fire!
Favorites: Scream Aim Fire, Hearts Burst Into Fire, Waking The Demon, Take It Out On Me, Say Goodnight, Last to Know
