KEY POINTS:
Herald rating: * * *
When Bullet For My Valentine are going hard at it they have the potential to be British metal's next great hope. Songs like melodic epic Forever and Always - which stinks of My Chemical Romance - and the title track on their second album are catchy enough to lead the mainstream metal charge alongside Atreyu and Avenged Sevenfold.
The chug is powerful. But it's when they slow things down to ballad pace, and make songs with a more romantic feel, they sound a little weak.
The pining Deliver Us From Evil is bogged down in cliches like "when darkness turns to night can someone wake me from this nightmare?".
Nevertheless, the Welsh metal core band have solid influences: there's the frantic thrash of Metallica, the heavy flamboyance of Iron Maiden, and, whether they admit it or not, the emo influence comes through too. The latter is heard early on when front man Matt Tuck starts singing, rather than sneering, and they slip into the slick emotional anthem Hearts Burst Into Fire and on Take It Out On Me he sings "self-harm and mutilation cuts deep but the things feel so right".
They are touring in May and it's sure to be a wild show - just watch out for the overwrought emotion.
Label: Sony/BMG
Verdict: Mainstream metal's next big things get caught up in the occasion
