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Rating: The film about Bullet For My Valentine seemed already written, staged, with a rather predictable plot.
A band that has been hyped by the British press since its inception and adored by a throng of young fans, after a memorable debut with "The Poison" sinks into a sea of banality with the subsequent "Scream Aim Fire" offering a fake thrash, that had nothing of thrash except for repeating riffs and some structure, getting lured by the nets and sirens of labels and popularity.
I was therefore at least skeptical about a revival of the Welsh band and a return to the glory of the first album, despite the four declaring a return to their origins.
The lead single "Your Betrayal" with its initial instrumental contortions that set the path for an enjoyable track, featuring a curious back-and-forth between melodic voice and strange whispered parentheses, is a good calling card that, however, led me to believe that there really might have been a break with the recent past.
However, analyzing "Fever" as a whole, the soap bubble created by the single bursts, leaving us with songs like the title track that, rather than being composed by those claiming to be inspired by Metallica or Slayer, seem composed by four kids in search of easy success. A piece that would compete with "Always and Never" to win a Razzie Award for the worst song ever written by the group.
And it should be noted here that the reduction of screaming sections from album to album is not the issue, but it is the entire project and the basic packaging that are lacking. I'll say it clearly, on a purely musical level the Welsh also offer plots and interweavings that catch the ear, but it's the proposal itself, or rather the frontman's sappy little voice, with its adolescent and pop timbre, that nullifies everything.
Not that Bullet For My Valentine have ever been proponents of particularly complex proposals, but in "The Poison" their offer was pleasant, conveyed something, and was not drowned in a production full of syrup, and the voice was never annoying or trivial.
The examples in this sense are countless, ranging from "Begging for Mercy" which wants to recover the old power of their debut, commendable if it didn't end in the usual radio-friendly refrain to pieces like the already mentioned "Fever" or "Pleasure and Pain".
There are even decent tracks, like "Dignity" which finally has more relaxed and less sticky vocal lines than usual, "The Last Fight" or the ballad "Bittersweet Memories", probably the best along with "Your Betrayal", thanks also to some well-chosen choral parts, though it must be said we're far from the pathos conveyed by tracks like "The Poison" or "Cries in Vain".
If we were to judge this album purely by catchiness and immediacy, the album wouldn't even be bad, reaching above satisfactory level, the point is that it can't and shouldn't only count this aspect. Mind you, nothing against catchiness, various Trivium in "The Crusade", the latest Papa Roach, Disturbed, just to stay in metal realms, possess this characteristic, but they know how to manage it well without sounding plastic and nauseating already on the second listen.
If the debut could be classified as part of the metalcore current, the second muddied the waters, being an unsuccessful collage of different influences, here it falls fully into an album to which the label of mainstream FM metal, as grotesque as it may be, sums up the idea well.
2.5/5
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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By Gallagher87
You can no longer talk about Emotional Metalcore (as the press likes to call them), simply because there is no trace of it.
‘Fever’ is nothing exceptional, a page from a book where everything is already known from beginning to end.
