At the moment I have quite a big list of bands I want to focus on with these worst to best posts, but Bullet For My Valentine jumped up to the top because they've been a band I've wanted to talk about for a while as they're a bit of a curiosity to me. Back in high school around 2009 and 2010 they were one of the most popular bands for my group of friends of growing metalheads and the band seemed like they were set to be the next big thing and future festival headliners but they've kind of faded into obscurity in recent years and aren't the powerhouses they once were.
For anyone not familiar with the band, they are a Welsh metalcore band formed back in 1998 and have since released only 6 studio albums with their first released in 2005 and their last released in 2018. I'll be going through each one to rank from worst to best and give my thoughts on each release along with 3 track recommendations. Maybe through this I'll see what went wrong in recent years.
I should say, I don't think I'm going to be doing new album reviews any time soon as I want to focus on this kind of post for now whilst I'm having fun with it but they make come back at another point. For February I'd recommend The Ruins of Beverast, The Pretty Reckless, and Architects. Anyway, lets get on with the list.
6. Temper Temper (2013)
Don't get me wrong it's not a terrible album by any means as I have heard worse but it's quite telling when even the top 3 tracks off this album don't really come close to their highlights from from the past and the whole album comes across like the B-Sides from "Fever" that weren't quite good enough to make the main album. It's pretty mediocre overall with nothing that could really be called bad outside of the terrible idea to do a sequel to one of their biggest hits with "Tears Don't Fall (Part 2)" which really doesn't work. Every time I listen to it I think I'm gonna find something to like but I just end up cringing at them trying to bank on the nostalgia of their older track. "Unforgiven 2" this is not.
I do wish it had a better opening track as well as all the previous album openers are absolute belters but "Breaking Point" is as generic as it gets for a metalcore track. I don't want to be too negative though as there are a few shining moments like where they stick more to the formula that works with ripping riffs and catchy choruses that stick in your head for a while afterwards but sadly they're few and far between like with "Truth Hurts" which is pretty much a spiritual successor to "Your Betrayal", the title track which is probably the best on the album with it's stomper of a chorus, and the short but sweet "Riot". I'll also give a shoutout to "P.O.W" which is a good example of the more melodic tracks that Bullet appeared to have mastered years earlier even if it does sound very similar to "All These Things Revolve Around"
Thankfully the album isn't too long but even at just 44 minutes it can drag a bit. The whole album does come off as a disappointment after 3 huge records making the band seem like they were unstoppable but this really was a roadblock on their path to the top and there would still have another roadblock to pass.....
Overall rating: 5/10
Top 3 tracks: Truth Hurts, Temper Temper, P.O.W
Worst track: Tears Don't Fall (Part 2)
5. Gravity (2018)
Now I believe this is the album that a lot of the band's fans would mark as their lowest point due to it being the least "metal" album they've ever released but I don't hate it myself and whilst it's not really an album I can totally recommend to anyone, it still has a few bright spots worth mentioning because unlike "Temper Temper" they at least tried something new.
So what happened here is the band experimented with a newer sound where they stripped back the metalcore and thrash and went the route of bands like Linkin Park and Bring Me The Horizon of going down a much more melodic route to make their music more accessible and it just didn't work out for them as they alienated long time fans and didn't really make many more new ones along way and since this album's release the band have been pretty quiet which is worrying.
It still has some heavy tracks worth checking out I think, including the first proper single "Over It" which still holds up with a nice main riff and catchy chorus you would expect from the band at this point. There's also "Don't Need You" which seems like a cheat since it was released as it's own single 2 years before this album even came out but it's part of the official tracklist so it counts and in that case it's easily the best thing on here and a big crowd pleaser that'll stay as part of their setlists for a long while. I also really do enjoy the final track "Breathe Underwater" which is I think is the only totally acoustic track the band have ever released and sounds like a breath of fresh air after a pretty standard fare of an album.
I can see why people would be totally turned off by tracks like "Letting You Go" or "The Very Last Time" that are very poppy in their formula but I dig it. Hey I'm a Bring Me The Horizon fan in 2021 I'm pretty much used to big changes at this point. Where it fails for me is just the forgettable nature of a fair few tracks that feel like they're here just for a test run of the band's new sound and don't really add much and there's a lack of true highlight tracks that feel unmissable. It's fine but with a bit more thought it could have been something that turned a corner for the band and gave them more creative freedom but after it pretty much misfired I'm thinking that they'll be forced to go back to their original sound to win some fans back which is a shame because I like bands branching out to something different if it works for them.
Overall rating: 6/10
Top 3 Tracks: Over It, Don't Need You, Breathe Underwater
Worst track: Gravity
4. The Poison (2005)
Bet you thought this would be at the top spot. Yeah I might get some hate for this but I'm looking at the discography from an overall presentation standpoint and this does have flaws I'm sad to say.
Don't get me wrong, this is a great album in my book and an album that did expand my musical taste back in high school when I started to discover more bands that were heavy in nature and I can't thank it enough for that. It runs into similar issues I have with Slipknot's highly regarded self-titled debut (that I'm sure I'll get into another time) in that it has a ton of brilliant, iconic tracks, but it's still filled to the brim with unneeded extras that stop it from reaching perfection.
The first half of this album is tremendous, filled with tracks that still hit like a freight train. The opening sets the tone perfecting with an orchestral intro by Apocalyptica leading right into the vicious "Her Voice Resides" with Matt Tuck screaming "No!" at the top of his lungs to great effect. I don't think that anyone could argue that "Tears Don't Fall" isn't the definitive BFMV track and is still easily the best on the album and best example of Bullet's mixture of slower, melodic sections with thrashing madness to create an iconic track of it's generation.
Elsewhere, "4 Words (To Choke Upon)" and "Suffocating Under Words of Sorrow" bring the fire as massive sing along tracks that are still played live regularly and for good reason. Another highlight for me is the biggest ballad on the album "All These Things I Hate" that starts off with an acoustic guitar before blasting into another huge chorus that you just feel the need to join in with it's that good.
For me though this is pretty much where the highlights end as the second half of the album really lets the side down as outside of "Cries in Vain" it's all pretty forgettable and ends making the end of the album feel like a slog with a few skippable tracks like "Room 409" and "10 Years Today" so it's not quite the masterpiece I remember but is still a very good album worth checking out thanks to its stomping first half.
Overall rating: 7.5/10
Top 3 tracks: 4 Words (To Choke Upon), Tears Don't Fall, All These Things I Hate
Worst track: 10 Years Today
3. Scream Aim Fire (2008)
I'm sure this placement is gonna make a few people mad as well.
I'd never really noticed before but in comparing this album to "The Poison" I can now see how very similar they are in terms of the formula as they're laid out in almost the exact same way, only this one does it better but still falls into the pitfalls that it's predecessor tripped into as well.
The first half of the album is brilliant just like "The Poison" with the title track and "Waking the Demon" bringing the thrashing metalcore goodness to the forefront with 2 of their most iconic tracks that remain part of the live setlist, and "Hearts Burst Into Fire" shows that great melodic side to the band with a heavy ballad that still hits my previously emo heart to this day. There's also the underrated tracks like "Eye of the Storm" and "Disappear" that are definitely worth another look all these years later.
Again though, it's just the second half that lets the side down a bit although not as badly as the last album with only a couple of filler tracks, but the track that I really don't like at all is the final track "Forever and Always". Bullet have been so good with their big melodic stadium-sized anthems but this track just comes across as cheesy and just drags on for way too long to end the album on a pretty bum note.
Still though, this is an improvement over the debut and a good sign of things to come for the apparent future of heavy metal.
Overall rating: 8/10
Top 3 tracks: Scream Aim Fire, Waking the Demon, Hearts Burst Into Fire
Worst track: Forever and Always
2. Venom (2015)
The pressure was on BFMV at the time as they'd just lost bassist Jason James who was replaced by Jamie Mathias, plus the band still had to follow up their most disappointing release and I think they knocked it out of the park.
Album opener "No Way Out" kicks things off in huge fashion with a track that's just a ball of pure thrash energy that has my adrenaline going every time it comes on and is better than anything found on "Temper Temper". "Army of Noise" follows with another thrashy track that Testament would be proud of, followed by "Worthless" that is smart to go down the more melodic route after those 2 tracks.
"You Want a Battle" is still an absolute mammoth of a stadium track that is worth going out of your way to hear live, trust me. "Broken" comes out of nowhere as a hidden gem that hits hard for 3 short but sweet minutes as well.
Really this is just such a well paced album and they were right to finally go with a shorter album time of around 41 minutes so not a second feels wasted and even the second half has something to offer with big tracks like "Skin" and "Hell or High Water" bringing the big choruses and solos you want from Bullet and ballads like "Venom" keep things from feeling too samey. Just a great album through and through and one that really surprised me. If only the band could have stuck to this path.
Overall rating: 8.5/10
Top 3 Tracks: No Way Out, You Want a Battle, Army of Noise
Worst track: The Harder the Heart (closest it comes to filler but still good)
1. Fever (2010)
Yeah this was always going to be number 1 for me. It's been my favourite Bullet album since it was first released and even after multiple listens of each release leading up to this list, this was still the one I looked forward to going all the way through with again and again and now I just really want this album to be cheap on vinyl so I can have it.
It's very comparable to "Venom" in terms of its formula as it is so well paced with a nice mix of different tracks to keep the flow going, I just think it's done a lot better here since this is for a 49 minute album that feels so quick and does not drag at all.
In terms of track highlights there are so many to go through with "Your Betrayal" setting the tone as their best opening track ever and almost steals the whole album itself with some groovy verses and yet another massive chorus which is then followed by the thrashy title track which I do enjoy a lot but it's hilarious hearing Matt Tuck trying to sound sexy with the line "Come here you naughty girl". Slightly cringe but it gives me a giggle. "The Last Fight" was the first single from the album and is still probably my favourite Bullet track with a burst of adrenaline of thashy metalcore that they do so well and better than most others as this remains in my regular playlist to this day.
In terms of ballads we have "A Place Where You Belong" and "Bittersweet Memories" that easily hit the expectations set by their predecessors and then some with both quite underrated in my mind. The heavier tracks are rounded out with "Begging For Mercy" and "Alone" with the 2 of them being the heaviest the band have ever released whilst still managing to sound like stadium anthems in their own right.
Really there isn't really any filler here as even the smaller, often more forgotten tracks like "Pleasure and Pain" and "Dignity" still coming across as big hitters in an album full of them. To me, Bullet have never been better than this album and I doubt they'll ever surpass it but goddamn I hope they try.
Overall rating: 9/10
Top 3 Tracks: Your Betrayal, The Last Fight, Begging For Mercy
Worst track: Genuinely can't pick one
Well there's my list. I hope you enjoyed. In terms of Bullet I do think they have a chance of making it back up to their high spot on metal ladder, but it really depends on their next album and the direction they go so here's hoping they hit it out of the park when they do.
So what will my next list be on? You'll have to crucify me to find out.
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