Bullet for my Valentine Special

It's been a long time since my last post (over a month I think?) but hopefully I'm going to try and get back into writing again. Anyway, today I've got a bumper post on Bullet for my Valentine.

On Monday 26th April the band released their new album, 'Fever'. To go along with this, they played a secret and very intimate show at London's Islington 02 Academy.

Although the World Tour appears to be on a break for a while, that doesn't mean I can't go to a good gig. I managed to get a ticket for the show along with Ben, and so we went down there in the hope that Bullet had stepped up their game in the 9 months they've been away from tour.

First up though was Rise to Remain, and I've finally found out why I know who they are. The singer/screamer is son of Bruce Dickinson, of Iron Maiden fame. So they cheated.

In actual fact, they weren't particularly bad at all. The crowd seemed to enjoy them a lot, and they had a really decent guitarist. The set was a bit boring but I thought they sounded pretty decent. I probably won't go out of my way to listen to them again from here.

After a short wait with the worst crowd ever (if you had endured the god-awful queue you would understand) Bullet took to the stage, opening with track one on 'Fever' - 'Your Betrayal'. This was absolutely brilliant and it was great to see that they had improved as musicians. They played through a 12 song set that was really great, and very convincing. Matt Tuck has also beefed up a lot, and for some reason I found that this made him a much more convincing frontman. It was great to see Bullet put on a five-star show, as this always seemed like something they just couldn't do.
It may also be worth adding that I saw two acts of ultimate violence in the crowd.
1. What appeared to be a Viking performed a finishing move that any WWE star would be proud to land on an unsuspecting victim, rendering him dead.
2. An angry man beating the life out of a pierced-up, flat-cap wearing kid for reasons I'm not too sure about, although I have a good guess (see description of victim).
Also worth mentioning is that this is the first gig I've been to that required some crowd-participation since that fateful night at the start of March (Underoath). Turns out I've lost all dexterity I once had, and need to work on getting my ankle back into shape if I'm to enjoy 65daysofstatic in May.
Asides from this, Bullet for my Valentine did a great job performing new and old songs alike, and deserve five stars for their show.
★★★★★

The second part of my Bumper Bullet for my Valentine Special (BBFMVS if you will) is my first impressions on the new album, 'Fever'.
This part isn't so positive. I've listened to the album only two or three times now, so a full review isn't really fair at this point (although you can certainly expect one). What I've heard is typical Bullet, and this far it's felt totally familiar, and really predictable. This is, I suppose, good and bad. It's good because it's a successful formula - I like the previous albums, so I like what I'm hearing now. But there is nothing that feels dangerous here. It gives an impression of laziness in song writing (in fact, lyrically I think it's pretty weak throughout) and no sense of experimentation. Though I'll welcome new songs, I'd love to hear them push and evolve their sound in new directions. Otherwise they've peaked at where they are now, and until they change it up, they shouldn't expect to find any more fame than the surprising amount that they already have.
Full review to come soon.

Dan