Bullet For My Valentine
The Poison

THE REVIEW

I'm sorry to say it, but after a few listens, the aforementioned CD feels a bit predictable and cold. Don't get me wrong, there are tracks that evoke emotion (new single "Tears Don't Fall"), tracks that really hit hard ("Room 409", "4 Words", and the opener "Her Voice Resides"), but there are also songs that somewhat drop the tone of an album that could almost touch perfection... It's a shame, then, for this attempt by Bullet to revive the fortunes of a genre that's too prevalent and recently lacking originality... This latter has indeed broken through quickly and recently, but it seems to have already said all it has to say. There are multiple attempts by identical bands exploiting the mainstream and commercial aspect of the proposal to make as much money as possible (I'm especially talking about American acts).

But let's get to the album...
It opens with a instrumental intro that starts to take the listener through polished guitar melodies, the calm is suddenly broken by a piercing scream (like most of the latest releases in the metal-core, emo field, or whatever it is) that instantly brings to mind the malaise involving most musicians of this faction; the track flows quickly with the typical singing mixing growl, screamo, and clean vocals... Note the ultra melodic and fast solos that echo Scandinavian Death Metal. Amid screams and whirlwind six-string flourishes, the next song ("4 Words") also flows quickly until reaching the beautiful guitar melody that envelops "Tears Don't Fall" (listened to over and over by the reviewer), which continues in a constant alternation of light and shadow that once again takes the listener on a whirlwind of emotions, as if love and hate were hand in hand (and many times they are). The same standards are found in other songs from the lot like "All These Things" and "Cries In Vain" where among clean and neat sounds, catchy melodies, and inner laments, every kind of discomfort is "spit in the face" of the enthusiast, especially those linked to love and other romantic themes, which are sometimes transformed into something macabre, repetitive, and almost pathetic.
In the CD, we find very hard episodes lightened, alas, by a drum sound that's too clean and doesn't do justice to those tracks... Listening to tracks like "Suffocating Under..." or the already mentioned "Room 409" or even "Hand Of Blood" leaves a bit of a bitter taste... At the end of the listen, you get the feeling of a work that's still valid but could have: been a bit more developed in terms of power and made a touch dirtier as overall sound.

Hats off, however, to the proposal of this British Act which can easily help make the horses of your car run, preferably at night and on some straight line, and doesn't really show what the road holds in store. Just like the Bullet do, they never make it clear what they really think but leave the listener free to move within the compositions; so, draw your own conclusions...

Note: I apologize for the probable evaluation errors and for the lack of smoothness in the discourse, but this is the first review I've ever written in my life. Thanks for your understanding and rock and roll!