Monday, February 18, 2013

"Bullet for My Valentine - Temper Temper" Review by Dom



Bullet for My Valentine have been one of my favorite bands of the past decade. Their debut album The Poison is still one of my favorite debut albums and the follow up Scream Aim Fire is just as good. They released their third album Fever in 2010, which in my opinion was a disappointment but still had some quality tracks on it. 3 years later they release Temper Temper their fourth full length album, one that I wasn't expecting much but I was hoping for the best.

Let me start off by saying that there's not many positive things to say about this album. When they released the title track as the first single, I didn't like it, but as always, I never judge an album based off of the single. They then released "Riot" which I liked a little more but it lacked the screams that made BFMV who they are. The album starts off on a high note with the track "Breaking Point", it's a fast punch in the gut with a solid chorus, the only negative is that the bridge sets up for a fantastic breakdown but then goes back into the chorus. Most of the tracks on this album fit the same model, riff-verse-chorus-verse-chorus-bridge-chorus, which works for a pop album but for a metal album it really lacks creativity. For me, the albums low-point is the 'sequel' to their spectacular "Tears Don't Fall" with the "Tears Don't Fall (Part 2)" it's just plain bad. You can't make a part 2 to a song unless it's 100% intentional, it just doesn't work (exception: Metallica with the Unforgiven trilogy that has spanned 3 albums and 17 years).

The problem with this album isn't that the individual tracks are bad, just none of them are good, they're all really in the middle. Not good enough to praise, not bad enough to trash. In the metal genre mediocrity is not how you stay relevant. The band doesn't sound bad, they just sound like they're running through the motions without any real sense of creativity. Also why is Matt Tuck not screaming anymore? It's like when M. Shadows from Avenged Sevenfold stopped screaming except they continued to release exceptional albums.

Standouts: Breaking Point, P.O.W., Dead to the World and Not Invincible(On the deluxe edition)

Worst Track(s): Tears Don't Fall (Part 2) and Dirty Little Secrets

Rating: 3/10

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