Bullet For My Valentine - Scream Aim Fire Review

Posted by Dan Marsicano on 01.29.2008

Bullet For My Valentine returns with their sophomore effort, Scream Aim Fire. Will the band finally get the respect they deserve from the metal community?

The Band

Matthew “Matt” Tuck-Vocals, Guitar
Michael “Padge” Paget-Guitar
Jason “Jay” James-Bass Guitar
Michael “Moose” Thomas-Drums

The Track Listing

1. Scream Aim Fire-4:26
2. Eye of the Storm-4:02
3. Hearts Burst Into Fire-4:57
4. Waking the Demon-4:07
5. Disappear-4:05
6. Deliver Us From Evil-5:58
7. Take It Out On Me-5:52
8. Say Goodnight-4:43
9. End of Days-4:18
10. Last to Know-3:15
11. Forever and Always-6:46




The metal community can be a fickle bunch. You try something new, you may get verbally thrashed. Hell, look at what happened to Metallica with Load. We all know that was a decent album, yet the metal community didn’t like the change and basically turned their back on the band.

The same thing applies to bands that are considered “metalcore.” Hardcore metal fans spit at bands with the metalcore label on them, unless they do something unique or kick enough ass for people to get over the interchanging vocal stylings. Bullet For My Valentine is a band that the mainstream loved, but real metal fans hate. Looking at metal forums or at Blabbermouth.net, you can see that Bullet For My Valentine gets little to no respect.

Even with all the verbal thrashings, and the chorus of boos that has plagued the band on tours with Iron Maiden and Guns N’ Roses, Bullet For My Valentine has overcome all of that and become a successful metal band in England and America. Their second album, Scream Aim Fire, shows a distinct evolution of the band’s sound, relying more on the melodic vocals of Matthew Tuck and less on the trademark screaming. The band still brings back some of the musical elements of The Poison, which is both a blessing and a curse.

The band has stated that Scream Aim Fire is heavier than their debut album, and for a few of the tracks, that’s true. The prime example is “Waking the Demon,” which blasts out of the speakers like a banshee and doesn’t let up for four minutes. The band actually sounds like classic Kreator at time. For those who don’t know who Kreator is, basically the song sounds like pure thrash metal.

The title track is also a solid burst of metal with a catchy chorus and one of the best solos on the album. The song ends with a great breakdown that is reminiscent of The Poison’s “Her Voice Resides.” The band is heavily influenced by Iron Maiden and that shows in “Disappear,” which has the galloping riffs that will immediately remind people of classic Maiden.

Not only is “Last to Know” the shortest track, it is also tied with “Waking the Demon” as the fastest on the album. It just blazes through its quick 3 minute running length, leaving nothing in its path and showing the band loves the thrash metal as much as any other band out there.

The two things that the band brought over from the last album are the screaming vocals and the epic ending track. However, instead of one epic track, the band pulls three of them out of their hats. I liked “Tears Don’t Fall,” but hated “The End” off of The Poison. On Scream Aim Fire, the band only does a bit better with the epic tracks. Like the last album's closing track, I didn’t like “Forever and Always.” It sounded epic, at least in the opening, and is good musically, but the outro went on for too long (over 3 minutes long) and the song didn’t seem to go anyway during its almost seven minute running length. I like the Queen influence in the outro, but other than that, thought it was a mediocre end to a good album.

“Take It Out On Me” is one long track that the band does well with because of the fact they are able to keep the speed in there and mix it well with the melodic side of the band. The guitar work is stellar and the bass gets the middle section to lead into the excellent duel guitar solo.

Bullet For My Valentine brings back the screaming vocals that are ever present in metalcore music, but tone it down greatly compared to The Poison. The band doesn't use the interchangeable vocals much and when they do, it doesn't distract too much from the music. I understand that the band wanted to keep the screaming vocals in there, but I would have liked to see them adapt a more Trivium type of philosophy and basically get rid of them completely.

For the first time, the band enters into the power ballad territory. On The Poison, the band had softer songs, such as “All These Things I Hate (Revolve Around Me)”, which were so mainstream and cheesy that it almost killed any credibility the band could have had in the metal community. For Scream Aim Fire, the band shows its maturity by relying more on a power ballad type sound for their slower songs and ditching the acoustic guitars and soft verses/screaming chorus style of singing. “Hearts Burst Into Flames” starts with clean electric guitar and stays at a mid-paced tempo throughout. The acoustic guitars are present in the middle melodic section, but strategically stay in the background, as to not distract. “Say Goodnight” is also full on power ballad, with the long build up and the sad lyrics about leaving a loved one. No 80’s band could have done it better.

Scream Aim Fire is a good album that borders on being great throughout its 52 minute running length. The band shows a marked improvement in their sound and really displays the potential successful future Bullet For My Valentine can have. The metalcore elements don’t get in the way too much and the band is able to show off their old school metal influences in a more direct way. I think the band needs to work on their lyrics (can get really repetitive) and their long songs (seem to putter along at times with no clear direction), but Scream Aim Fire is a step in the right direction for this four piece from Bridgend, South Wales.

The 411: I was torn between giving this album a 7.5 or a solid 8, but I lowered the grade to 7.5 only because the album needs more time to sink in for me. Scream Aim Fire is a huge improvement over their debut album and the band sounds energetic and cohesive as a four piece unit. There are still some issues in their music (repetitive lyrics and songs that are too drawn out), but the band is taking a step in the right direction and I think their next release could be their classic.

Final Score:  7.5   [ Good ]