Customer Reviews

Hand of Blood

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

For the past three years I lived in England and dicscovered Bullet. This Mini album is truly amazing and shows true potential for this young group, although two songs on this made it to thier full length album, the others are hidden jems (especially Hand of Blood) and are well worth the purchase. From teh amazing guitar riffs, to the overpowering drum fills and double bass pedal, and even to the singing, this mini-album will blow you away! I would gladly pay tripple the price they're asking for. Buy now, or never find out what your missing.

This debut e.p. is just a taste of the great things to come from this band. I try not to get overly excited about bands anymore since so many these days suck you in with a great first album then quickly become a steaming pile of crap, but these guys seem more promising than most.

The songs are very technical and melodic which is what drew me into this in the first place. Its heavy and easily moshable. Good screaming mixed with excellent clean singing vocals. There are even a few honest to goodness guitar solos! Thats something that is sorely missing in music these days.

Cries In Vain and Just Another Star are easily the best 2 tracks on this cd, but the others are great too. Definetly worth checking out. Nice anime style cover art too.

To start off with, I need to address the ridiculous comparisons between Bullet For My Valentine and Funeral For A Friend. Yes, they are both UK post-grunge bands, but within the genre there styles are very different. Bullet are very fast paced whilst Funeral For A Friend generally keep to a slower tempo. Funeral For A Friend have been around a good sight longer than Bullet, so Bullet have drawn influences from them, but have then built on that and made into their own. Bullet For My Valentine are a very unique band, and this shines through on their debut EP "Hand Of Blood". They're starting to become very popular in the emo/hardcore circuit in the UK, their brash, thumping music seeming to surpass that of bands such as Alexisonfire - a band that would be a sensible comparison.

To put it bluntly, there's not a bad song on this six track EP. Fans of bands such as Silverstein and UnderOath should find Bullet For My Valentine's music to be very enjoyable, as it's got the hard guitar riffs, excellent screaming/singing, hard drumming and bring it all together very well. The lyrics are all very well thought out and are delivered with a lot of passion. Standout tracks include "4 Words (To Choke Upon)", "Hand Of Blood" and "Cries In Vain", which all happened to end up on their 2005 full length album - coming just months after this EP - "The Poison". The fact the CD is so short gives it a lot of replay value and will certainly leave you wanting more if your a fan of this style of music. If you've yet to try anything from Bullet For My Valentine this would be the perfect place to start. Definetley reccommended.

Everything you've ever heard about these guys is true. Their music is extremely hard, but the melodies are uncrompehensibly beautiful. Bullet For My Valentine rock much harder, much louder, and are far less likely to be on Top Of The Pops than much of their genremates of whom nobody could charm me more than one or two songs. This, I listen to over and over again.
This album is the same as their selftitled debut with another great track as a bonus: 4 Words (To Choke Upon).

I haven't had this feeling about an album since Rage Against the Machine's debut-album release.

Great Demo, the new cd, the Poison is even better. The only thing that I wish was different with the new cd, is that I wish four of the thirteen weren't from this demo, but no one is perfect. Other then that Bullet for my valentine is a great group, none of their songs sounds a like so their cd never gets boring at anytime. I do believe that this is the year for Bullet for my valentine.

Hand of blood is one of the best songs ever!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I listen to Breaking Benjamin, From autumn too ashes, Underoath, slipknot ect. and bullet for my valentine stands out among my music as one of the greats don't pass up on this band they are amazing!!!!

These guys came out of nowhere for me. I've always been HUGE fan of the U.K. post-hardcore/metalcore scene. I actually prefer it over US releases. Bands like Funeral For A friend, Lost Prophets, Hondo Maclean, The Blackout, and When Reason Sleeps all have been some of my favorites coming from this genre.

I was looking in a AP last month and saw an add for this EP. I decided to get it because it looked cool. After some research I learned that these guys have a lot more talent than most bands in this genre that have been at the switch for quite some time.

Now I'm not saying that this EP can outdo FFAF's Seven ways to scream you name, (not even close) but it's still a very fine Post-hardcore release.

The vocals here are better than most U.K. outfits. He reminds me of a cross between Matt from Funeral for a friend and the screaming is very original. The guitar riffs here bring a lot to the table. It's very evident from the riffs and vocals that this band is from the U.K. scene. They've got a decent rythm section too, something that Funeral for a friend lacks nowadays. The drumming is par for the course. Nothing awesome here, but this genre isn't exactly known for it's drumming.

The lyrics are also reflecting of the genre, occasional cussing and I hate you lyircs.

Overall this is really a typical U.K. Post-hardcore record. But then why do I give it 4 stars? Because these guys have a lot of potential and they aren't afraid to stand out from the crowd. That's what. I think that if they play their cards right, they could well be the next Funeral For a Friend.

I would recomend this EP for anybody who like metalcore or post-hardcore.

Ok so for years ive always loved the song "Hand of blood" so I finally got this cd, and well thats about the only song I like on this CD. If you like having every song you like on CD like me then get it! but if your looking for a bunch of cool songs in a CD I would get another Bullet for my valentine CD.

These guys are energetic and in your face and your able to sing along because you can actually understand what they are singing, its 80's 90's and the millennium all mixed in one...

Bullet For My Valentine or BFMV are a Metalcore band hailing from the UK and have successfully released two positive LP's and four great Ep's.

"Hand of Blood" is the bands third EP and was released in 2005 along with the bands debut album "The poison". Although it only hold 6 songs it makes for a solid all the way through effort. They proceed into the scream-clean-scream vocal ideals that made Kill Switch Engaged successful.

The songs are not too distinct from one another at first, but with a good listen or two you can easily distinguish the songs. "4 Words To Choke Upon" is where the album begins and the progressive intro beams into a 'Zakk Wylde' like pinch harmonic spectacle. "Hand of Blood" the actual track is a staple in my opinion to the band, follows all the bands cliche's putting them to good use. Every thick churning slow moment rapidly cutting to a fast pace tempo is really what makes for the album.
"Cries In Vain" has a unique clean toning up guitar intro, but nothing really grabs you in the whole song. Not a filler, but nonetheless not their best effort.

The next three songs are the meat of the album. "Curses" has a brilliant clean intro with a nice flow coupled with upbeat rough but clean vocals. After about 1:20 aggressively stirs the heavy approach in a different direction. The song is more progressive than the rest of the songs on the EP, quite memorable really toying between redemption and loneliness. "No Control" much like the title of the song is an unbound ride, scattering heavy vocals up and down pitches. This song is probably the most hardcore for say on the album, but nothing nearly as heavy as fellow commercial metalcore bands like All That Remains, and Trivium. The final track "Just Another Star" is sort of like a inverted version of "4 Words To Choke Upon" (the intro track), but with a few more tricks and organic beats up its sleeve. Harmonized intros, thunderous pausing everything in its way drum moments, hazardous guilt ridden vocals, all this and a mosh pit ready breakdown chorus!

Overall one can't complain about the relatively cheap price for the album as few songs as it may hold they are all good in their own way.I'd rather spend Six dollars on a short but great album than twelve dollars on an album with maybe two three gems. Metalcore fans, emos, all of you 'Hardcore' scenesters shall enjoy this EP.