Bullet For My Valentine
The Poison

First Full Length for the Welsh band... "The Poison" is an album with many influences: from Metalcore to emocore, to the Slayer-style drumming typical of thrash... The history of this band is very tumultuous because its formation was in doubt even before the release of the album in question...

2004: The name "Bullet For My Valentine" is chosen for the group, which has found a new and definitive bassist, Jason James. The four immediately get to work and record "The Poison" on October 3, 2005, and it is a true success in England... The UK, infatuated with metal and its likes, made a mistake though: they excessively hyped BFMV (Bullet For My Valentine), to the point of proclaiming them the new English Metalcore legend...

On with the review!!!!!

Here it is, the LP with a very enigmatic cover... At first glance, it might seem just an utterly banal emo album, nothing special... and yet the four Welshmen hide something mysterious... an "Intro" played by Apocalyptica, the four heavy metal cellists. The first song of the LP is the very "Intro" that opens the door to the first real song of the album "Her Voices Resides". Right away, you can sense their Metal-Emotional Core influence, because the track starts with a very angry drum, and a mass scream from Matt Tuck and Jason James. The song is very smooth and enjoyable. The third track is called "4 Words to Choke upon", also aggressive and with an excellent dose of violence in the notes played by the guitarists' Jacksons. So far, the album is smooth, but nothing extraordinary as the English newspapers seemed to announce... However, the revolution is called "Tears Don't Fall". A song with a melancholic riff, but just one scream from Matthew Tuck is enough to give a different twist to the track that seemed just "drenched" in emo.

"Tears Don't Fall", and "4 Words to Choke Upon" were the first two singles from the Full Length, and to these two another is added, namely: "Suffocating Under Words of Sorrow (What Can I Do)". The track, apparently dull and emo more than ever, takes, as usual, another turn, also thanks to Michael Thomas' drumming which intertwines Nu-Metal, emocore, screamo, and thrash. The song reveals itself as a small masterpiece.
Next is "Hit the Floor" which is perhaps the ugliest and most useless song on the LP, a classic filler track. However, the four English lads show their hard and angry side with the song "All These Things I Hate (Revolve Around Me)". The song is in perfect BFMV style, starting with an emo and depressing intro only to make way for a song capable of breaking through to anyone (punk wannabe girls style "yay for punk because Green Day play it" first and foremost) with its melancholy and sweetness.
At this point, it's fitting to say, "ANOTHER SONG ANOTHER SINGLE", indeed because BFMV are already at 5 EPs released with this album, and the fifth is "Hand of blood". Aggressive, charged, maybe even a bit too much for an emocore group, but the track has nonetheless enjoyed deserved success (merited note). Another filler track on this LP, "Room 409" with its playful tones is almost entirely useless. Reaching the tenth song, it's the moment for the title-track "The Poison"... enigmatic intro concealing a dark and melancholic soul... "The poison" is nothing less than the most beautiful song of the album. Almost at the end, I can firmly state that the album might as well end here since tracks 11, 12, and 13 are almost entirely fillers: "10 years today" seems just a mix of discarded riffs, same for the other songs "Spit You Out" and "Cries in Vain". Last song "The End"... as you can guess, the album is over...

Maybe a concept album... who knows... Anyway, the four British lads have proven they can play, and play well, they have also hinted that, besides being commercialized, they still have much to say... waiting for the new album...