Bullet for My Valentine

Countless Goodbyes – Cycles Review

By Mark Z. on April 19, 2019 in 2019, Finnish Metal, Inverse Records, Metalcore, Reviews, Metalcore, 43 comments

“It’s been pretty interesting to watch metalcore’s evolution over the years. I’m talking specifically about the strain of metalcore that cropped up in the early 2000s, the good cop/bad cop style played by the Killswitch Engages and As I Lay Dyings of the world, the type that infused At the Gates riffs with choruses cribbed from the latest alt-rock band. I ate that shit up in high school and stayed for the party when the style started adopting faster and more technical playing (see: August Burns Red and Texas in July). When djent had its heyminute in the early 2010s, bands realized chugs weren’t too different from breakdowns and thus began to add some djentiness to the proceedings (see: This or the Apocalypse’s Dead Years and Hollow).” The core cycle.

Drowning in You – Here Is Hope Review

By Mark Z. on October 19, 2018 in 2018, Boersma Records, German Metal, Hardcore, Metalcore, Reviews, Hardcore, Metalcore, 82 comments

“Metalcore is like that friend from high school who keeps coming back. Just when you think you’ve left it behind for good, here comes another Facebook notification or Instagram post to remind you that, yes, this thing was once a part of your life.” Look at this photograph.

Shark Infested Daughters – These Tides, Our Tombs Review

By El Cuervo on November 8, 2016 in 2016, Canadian Metal, Metalcore, Reviews, Self-released, Melodic Death Metal, Metalcore, 26 comments

“It seems misogynistic violence is on trend in metalcore. Feed Her to the Sharks led the aquatic way with Zombies Ate My Girlfriend chomping in its wake, both exacting satisfying chugs and saccharine melodies unto the metal public in a reasonable throwback to the All That Remains– or Bullet For My Valentine-dominated scene from the mid-’00s. Now Shark Infested Daughters steps up to invoke unpleasant images of ravaged women with their debut, These Tides, Our Tombs.” Please don’t feed the freakin’ sharks!

Adept – Sleepless Review

By Mark Z. on February 15, 2016 in 2016, Djent, Hardcore, Metalcore, Napalm Records, Reviews, Swedish Metal, Djent, Hardcore, Metalcore, 18 comments

“Look, I get it: ‘metalcore’ is a dirty word in the metal community. Telling a bunch of underground metalheads that you like metalcore is the equivalent of painting a big scarlet letter right between your set of Fred Durst nipple rings. And while I agree the genre has its shortcomings, I can’t help but enjoy it nonetheless. Part of it’s because this is the music I grew up with – sure, there’s lots of emo choruses and re-purposed Gothenburg riffs, but they’re my emo choruses and re-purposed Gothenburg riffs!” We have a Core infection in Sector 6!

Indefensible Positions: El Cuervo Defends Scream Aim Fire

By El Cuervo on December 14, 2015 in Blog Posts, Indefensible Positions, Metalcore, Metalcore, 63 comments

“Every once in a while the metal scene collectively pisses on a band or record and someone needs to step up and defend why they like it. We normally don’t spend a lot of time defending shitty records, but sometimes genuinely interesting or good records get lampooned by an overly conservative heavy metal scene and that calls for a professional contrarian to defend it! If ever there were professional contrarians, it would be the staff of AMG. So here we are to re-hash a record from our past that (some of us) love that everyone else seems to have soured on (or never liked in the first place).” This one is even more indefensible than usual!

iwrestledabearonce – Hail Mary Review

By El Cuervo on June 12, 2015 in 2015, American Metal, Artery Recordings, Metalcore, Reviews, Metalcore, 71 comments

“Let’s talk metalcore. The much-maligned genre derided by all the ‘cultured’ as trash, which shifts off the shelves faster than a jet-powered jaguar amongst those with ‘plebeian’ tastes. You, loyal reader, have disparaged the genre at one time, just as I did – there was a phase where the merest hint of a breakdown induced spontaneous and forceful ejection of my stomach’s contents. As a younger chap, I was taking my first tentative steps into the self-absorbed swamp that is metal just as metalcore was taking off, and I’ve observed its explosion and subsequent implosion with due care.” It’s down to the wire, can we get a Hail Mary over here?

Wilderun – Sleep at the Edge of the Earth Review

By El Cuervo on June 3, 2015 in 2015, American Metal, Folk Metal, Progressive Metal, Reviews, Symphonic Metal, Unsigned Bands, Folk Metal, Progressive Metal, Symphonic Metal, 62 comments

“The newly devised Angry Metal Guy forums, in collaboration with the great guys at Metal-Fi, have had very mixed results. On the one hand, I now have a place where I can discuss metal with people from all walks of life rather than just my superfluous IRL ‘friends’ whose metal credibility crashed and burned when they thought Bullet For My fucking Valentine was kvlt. On the other, it’s been apocalyptic for my productivity and bank balance and goes to show the great diversity of music which regretfully flies under the AMG radar.” In a nutshell, message boards are evil but useful.

Sylosis – Dormant Heart Review

By El Cuervo on January 9, 2015 in 2015, English Metal, Melodic Death Metal, Metalcore, Nuclear Blast, Reviews, Thrash Metal, Melodic Death Metal, Metalcore, Thrash Metal, 30 comments

“Sylosis have been one of the few bands bridging ‘popular,’ festival-headlining, metal with self-proclaimed high-brow or underground metal in recent years. You’re just as likely to encounter flat-cap toting hipster types as you are long-haired, neck-bearded ‘purists’ in the crowds of one of their gigs.” The state of modern metalcore isn’t great, but these blokes look to change all that, or distance themselves from it.

Architects – The Here and Now Review

By Angry Metal Guy on January 4, 2011 in 1.5, 2011, Century Media, Metalcore, Reviews, Metalcore, 16 comments

I know very little about J Pop. It’s quite popular among Swedish alternative kids (though, I might be behind since it seems like everyone’s all obsessed with South Korea now?) and I know that I can’t hear what they’re singing about (and that it makes me feel happy). But what I’ve heard is that in Japan there’s a new trend every quarter and that when that trend is done, the pop stars are done. They have a shelf-life of three months. No one takes them seriously and not a single person in the entire country would take them seriously as “artists” because, well, they’re not. They’re pop stars, engineered to sell music for kids obsessed with trends. Metal has trends, and really, people, it does, metalcore in the early 2000s was the coolest thing EVER and a bunch of bands who were all doing exactly the same thing got signed. But, of course, established labels are slow on the pick up of trends and so 4 years after the trend really started getting hot and relevant Century Media and Metal Blade started having bidding wars over metalcore bands. The year is 2011 and they’re stuck with these bands. And I can’t think of anyone who isn’t super fucking sick of this sound. But I sure as hell am. This sound had a shelf life of about.. oh, I dunno, 3 months. And it should’ve stayed there.