Bullet For My Valentine: Venom

Known for being purveyors of reasonably friendly, non-violent metalcore, these Welsh boys have really stuck an Exocet missile up their collective arses on this, their fifth album. And it’s done them the world of good.

After an eerie, building intro, the album explodes into opening cut ‘No Way Out’, and ‘Army Of Noise’ maintains the fury and the frenetic speed. ‘Worthless’ is more groove-based, but still hits like a sledgehammer wielded by Ronda Rousey. Have BFMV morphed into a melodic thrash band?

Well, not really, but it takes until track seven, the title track, for the band to let up on the throttle slightly. ‘The Harder The Heart (The Harder It Breaks)’ is more of a slow-burner, before the album piledrives once again to the end. An argument could be made for Venom being Bullet For My Valentine’s hardest-edged record of them all.

However, traditional fans need not be concerned – there are still plenty of grooves and soaring melodic choruses to keep you happy. This is still very much a Bullet For My Valentine album; they’ve just upped the aggressive ante slightly more on this one.

In a nutshell, Venom lives up to its name, is a worthy addition to this band’s growing catalogue and will please existing fans whilst garnering a few new ones.