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 (2.5 stars) Call me crazy, but I expected better! Oct 19, 2009
The U.K.'s Bullet For My Valentine have never been a truly great band. Everybody knows that they were a Johnny-come-lately to the 21st Century's exploding metalcore scene if there ever was one, and most would agree that even if they weren't, they still wouldn't rank among modern metal's elite. However, they HAVE always had the potential to be great! Although somewhat lacking, 2006's debut, "The Poison," was catchy, well-produced, confident-sounding, and a showcase for their ample and exceptional instrumental prowess. Unfortunately, the follow-up, 2008's "Scream Aim Fire," fails to cash in on that first album's promise. Indeed, this is one step not in the right direction -- and not even just a sidestep, but a full-fledged step backwards for the band. It makes for a maddening listen, too, because no matter how many times it is spun, the listener is always left wanting.
BFMV stray away from the path that a lot of metalcore bands take by drawing influence from brutal melodic death metal acts such as At The Gates, Arch Enemy, and The Black Dahlia Murder. Instead, they lean more towards the likes of Soilwork, recent In Flames, and Killswitch Engage. Thus, their sound is now quite a bit more melodic than it was two years ago. No, no, there's nothing inherently wrong with this; and there are even some advantages that come with it. For example, this record features neat guitar harmonies, better and more technical guitar solos, and much more prominently audible and muscular bass lines. But on the downside, the great, blistering double bass onslaughts, careening shred sections, meaty, rhythms, and punishing breakdowns that were a big part in making "The Poison" so enjoyable are now completely absent. There are a lot fewer memorable guitar licks this time around, too. As a result, "Scream Aim Fire" sounds watered down and sluggish; and when compared to most of the rest of the metalcore fare on the market, it often borders on being almost TOO melodic (one might be tempted to call it "pansycore".) And this fact is made even more disappointing when considering all of its pre-release (and, in retrospect, falsified) hype: Frontman Matthew Tuck promised the new material would be a lot heavier and more aggressive.
Yes, there is a hot guitar lick, well-written melody, and infectious chorus or two be found here. But the at over 52 minutes in length, these eleven tracks could stand to be more compact. Plus, the songs themselves are very hit-or-miss, thus making it a bit of a chore to sit through the album in full. On the plus side, excellent tracks like "Waking The Demon" and "Last To Know" overflow with memorable guitar chops. The former is a blistering and propulsive number with dueling, streamlined chainsaw guitar attacks, amazing riffage (including some that is, hands down, the best Bullet For My Valentine have written to date), bubbling bass lines, deft drumming, pounding rhythms and a climatic and well-placed breakdown; whereas the latter is probably the set's thrashiest and most technical piece. It is propelled by dizzying guitar whirlwinds. Elsewhere, the fiery, thrashy, and hard-grooving "Eye Of The Storm" is strictly decent, as are the heavy and hard-rockin'-yet-simultaneously-melodic "End Of Days," and the pleasant-enough, strong hook-laden, arena-ready closing ballad, "Forever And Always."
But there are several mediocre or throwaway tracks present here, as well. Tracks like the title song, "Disappear" (which sports a great, ripping guitar solo), and the overlong and clearly My Chemical Romance-indebted "Deliver Us From Evil" are listenable. Yet, they should be chalked up as average-at-best because they all have generic melodic choruses, and none of them are particularly deep or meaningful, and none of them really bring anything new to the table. The radio-readiness of them is also quite annoying. And now, on to the ballads. As the album's first love song, the cliche-titled "Hearts Burst Into Fire" can claim to have some guitar crunch, good, steady bass work, and gorgeous melodic solos and harmonies throughout; but those good aspects are counterbalanced with plodding tempos, lifeless momentum, cheesy lyrics, and syrupy, over-processed vocals. Lastly, BFMV have got to get over making songs like "Take It Out On Me" and "Say Goodnight," two pieces of positively reeky, modern rock balladry which practically have "filler" and "`We need a new hit single'" written all over them. No kidding, if it weren't for the intro of "Say Goodnight," which has acoustic guitars that evoke Pantera's "Cemetery Gates," these two tunes would be completely skippable. And some of their lyrics -- i.e. "I would sacrifice the world, just to be with you" -- are so painfully sappy, they may make you want to blow your nose on a pancake.
To be fair, "Scream Aim Fire" isn't a terrible or completely unlistenable album by any means. It just lacks too much inspiration, consistency, cohesion, "meat," timelessness, depth, and backbone to be a very good one. And to their credit, it appears that Bullet For My Valentine had good intentions. It appears they tried to do what Atreyu did in 2007 (with "Lead Sails Paper Anchor"), and outgrow the plain old "metalcore" label and become more of a traditional metal band. Even so, "S.A.F." is still just another melodic metalcore release, and a very mediocre, bland, and unoriginal one, at that. Hopefully BFMV will get another shot at achieving greatness before the rest of the world forgets about and/or is fed up with and closes the book on them for good.
0 of 1 found the following review helpful:
 average garbage Sep 14, 2009
As I lay dying kills this band. This band is a teen gay whine band with a few decent riffs to disguise themselves with a brief dash of talent before the songs go to trash.
 This is so good it will make your ears cry!!!! And your neighbors too!! Aug 16, 2009
I am in shock and disbelief at how good this band is!!!!!!! Why wasn't I informed!!! This is the future of metal as a whole, and I must say that the dark ages of nu-metal may blessfully come to a crashing end if bands like these guys and trivium have the predominance in the metal scene like they deserve to!!!! For any of you old metal heads and thrashers that are starved for good talented music, ALL THE TRACKS ARE GOOD!!!!!! Jeez peanut butter mutter christ!! I almost did a cartwheel of joy at first hearing!!! Sophisticated, with the perfect calibrated rage that made me fall in love with this vein of music!!! Kneel in a dark corner and lacerate yourself joyously with a broken glass, just listen to this music while doing so!!;p
One of my Favorite bands!! Apr 23, 2009
I did not start listening to these guys until just a few months ago, but I can say this album is really great. I say for the vocal difference from the first album of theirs (The Poison) is noticable, but this is still a great album. I can understand that his voice went out on him and needed surgery. I like this one just as good as the first album. I like all songs on it, but the bonus ones are kind of not as good to me as the regular tracks. I watched the videos on my laptop and they are clear and cool to watch, except the touring ones are a little annoying to watch due to quality. I got a zune 120 gig, so my cds are ripped to put on the mp3 player. I got a system in my car that will play the zune through the stereo through an aux in front of the deck. I would recommend this album and kind of nice to have some added bonus songs. I like when bonus songs are added and they are not live songs. If I want to hear concert songs I will go see the concert. I can't afford to go to concerts, but just listening to some band that is at concert and not seeing them in front is kind of annoying to me. I hope you enjoy this album like I do, if you decide to get it.
Best Yet Apr 08, 2009
these guys are just fantastic I love them so much and this album just ahhhh!its a eargasim its just what I thought I would be and more these guys can be hardcore but also they can show a softer side which is great I just wanna listen to this album all day long!theyre one of the best bands right now
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