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Rating:
Black smoke for the Welsh Bullet For My Valentine. Two years after the previous "Scream Aim Fire," the band returns with "Fever," produced by American Don Gilmore, which is shocking given the U.S. producer's resume is not exactly aligned with the Metal genre (notable productions include albums by Linkin Park, Good Charlotte, Avril Lavigne, to name a few), and this in itself is not encouraging. Trying not to be influenced by this, listening to "Fever" immediately establishes a condition; you can no longer talk about Emotional Metalcore (as the press likes to call them), simply because there is no trace of it (except for exceptions that I will delve into).
The opening tracks "Your Betrayal" and the title-track "Fever" are among the most successful pieces on the album, the 'fast/slow tempo' formula persists, which has now become a trademark of the group, while the leader Matt Tuck, despite a not so virile vocal tone, manages to be convincing, however, the drum tempos and guitars seem flatter and more predictable than in the past, while maintaining good quality.
The first single released from the album is "The Last Fight", with the accompanying video that shows a suddenly pumped-up Tuck (steroids?), a growth inversely proportional to the piece's adrenaline, which begins to dull the album that too soon starts to 'reek' of predictability. Confirming this is "A Place Where You Belong", a ballad too close to 'chart Emo', indeed, distant seem the slow songs of the past like the hit "All These Things I Hate" from the album "The Poison", of a completely different level both in quality and engagement.
In short, the album seems to lose substance piece by piece, even the adrenaline of "Pleasure And Pain" fails to change a not particularly positive momentum so far. Among the decent "Alone" and "Dignity" is found the second ballad for depressed teenagers, "Bittersweet Memories" indeed acts as a slap in the face to those, like myself, who hoped for a leap in maturity that now seems impossible to achieve and perhaps never really wanted. Too late the Welsh remember they were born as a Metal band, it is the much hoped-for 'strong' piece "Begging For Mercy" that preserves itself as the song of the album for conviction and style. What disappoints is that the band tried to kill two birds with one stone, releasing the hardest pieces ("Begging For Mercy" indeed and the already mentioned "Your Betrayal") online immediately, but seasoning the album with Pop/Metal sounds (forgive the grim association) and ‘emocore’ more akin to Escape The Fate than to Trivium.
The initial credentials were respectable, the band was precociously compared (more by the critics than the fans) to great icons of the past like Iron Maiden and Metallica so much to make quality covers, see "Master Of Puppets" republished by the magazine 'Kerrang!' in which the band positively interprets 'Sanitarium'.
Without being lengthy, we can say that the album reaches sufficiency without really offering anything new, the initial perplexity after knowing that the production was entrusted to a money-making machine like Don Gilmore was indeed well-founded. The major magazines will idolize this album as the definitive consecration complete with artistic growth (I already spotted online a 5/5 from Kerrang! which must have been buried in money for this), but honestly, "Fever" is nothing exceptional, a page from a book where everything is already known from beginning to end, the rawer beginnings of "The Poison" and the 'cool' style of "Scream Aim Fire" are now water under the bridge. Score 6.5 on a good day.
Tracklist Lyrics and Videos
08 Bittersweet Memories (05:08)
You turn me off at the push of a button
And you pretend that I don't mean nothing
I'm not a saint that's easy to tell
But guess what honey you ain't no angel
You like to scream, use words as a weapon
Well go head take your best shot woman
I wanna leave you it's easy to see
But guess what honey it's not that easy
We get so complicated (complicated)
These fingers full of memories
So rip my pictures from your wall
Tear them down and burn them all
Light the fire, walk away
There's nothing left to say so
Take the ashes from the floor
Bury them to just make sure
That nothing more is left of me
Just bittersweet memories
(Memories)
I wanna run and escape from your prison
But when I leave I feel something is missing
I'm not afraid that's easy to tell
This can't be heaven it feels like I'm in hell
Your like a drug that I can't stop taking
I want more and I can't stop craving
I still want you it's easy to see
But guess what honey your not that good for me
We get so complicated (COMPLICATED)
These fingers full of memories
So rip my pictures from your wall
Tear them down and burn them all
Light the fire, walk away
There's nothing left to say so
Take the ashes from the floor
Bury them to just make sure
That nothing more is left of me
Just bittersweet memories
(Memories)
Just bittersweet memories
We get so complicated (complicated)
These fingers full of memories
We get so complicated (complicated)
So rip my pictures from your wall
Tear them down and burn them all
Light the fire, walk away
There's nothing left to say so
Take the ashes from the floor
Bury them to just make sure
That nothing more is left of me
Just bittersweet memories
(Memories)
Whoa-oh-oh-oh
There's nothing left to say [2x]
10 Begging for Mercy (03:56)
Yeah, oh
Waking up with just one thing in mind
Eyes sewn shut so tear them open wide
I'm on the hunt, I'm on the prowl, I can almost taste you now
I'm on your scent, I'll track you down, I'm on you now
Drain your blood, watch it pour
Drain your blood, plead no more
Please forgive me, I don't know what I'm doing
Someone help me, stop begging for your mercy
Please forgive me, I don't know what I'm doing
Someone help me, stop begging for your mercy
Can you feel the pain? The smell of fear's around you
Do you wanna scream? Let it out just know I can hear you
I'm on the hunt, I'm on the prowl. I can almost taste you now
I'm on your scent, I'll track you down, I'm on you now
Drain your blood, watch it pour
Drain your blood, plead no more
Please forgive me, I don't know what I'm doing
Someone help me, stop begging for your mercy
Please forgive me, I don't know what I'm doing
Someone help me, stop begging for your mercy
Drain your blood, watch it pour
Drain your blood, plead no more
Please forgive me, I don't know what I'm doing
Someone help me, stop begging for your mercy
Please forgive me, I don't know what I'm doing
Someone help me, stop begging for your mercy
Oh
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Other reviews
By Taurus
The soap bubble created by the single bursts, leaving us with songs like the title track that... seem composed by four kids in search of easy success.
The frontman’s sappy little voice, with its adolescent and pop timbre, nullifies everything.
