Customer Reviews

Poison

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

 

 

Sew up "Master of Puppets" with Iron Maiden and In Flames riffs and a predisposition towards gothic lyrical melodrama and artistic expression a la The Cure ("Tears Don't Fall," "Hand of Blood," "Suffocating Under Words of Sorrow (What Can I Do)," etc.). Then, add some kids with a tour van full of black hair dye and replacement belt studs, and you have this band.

Like other albums made by bands pillaging the legacy of Gothenburg, "The Poison" is chock full of harmonized lead guitar set against a pounding rhythm section, and the vocals swerve between the extremes of an on-the-verge-of-suicide Billie Joe Armstrong and Varg Vikernes with a sore throat. It's too hard to be pop, but it's too whiny to be metal; it's too derivative to be praised as a classic, but Bullet for My Valentine are too Welsh to be overlooked by record companies in the wake of other successful acts from Wales like Funeral for a Friend and Lostprophets.

Like the records that inspired it, "The Poison" gets old quick, but moments of unadulterated six string masturbation sprinkled throughout will bring you out of the inevitable tunnel vision reverie Bullet for My Valentine's songwriting will induce.

Bottom line: if you're itching for a new Atreyu record, here it is. Otherwise, skip it.

This is Heavy, Melodic and Powerful.(HIT THE FLOOR, TEARS DON'T FALL and ALL THESE THINGS I HATE are masterpieces.)

If you like metal legends like Iron Maiden's "polished" metal sound and riffs and/or anything about Atreyu, you'll feel right at home with this one. The Melodies are excelent and they play with a very tight sound, but the [...]sobb singing trend has to die soon or I'm going to kill myself.

I got this CD for from a buy one get one half off Amazon.com deal, and it's not a horrible CD, but it has the same sound all these post "nu-metal" bands have. Extremely cool riffs, lack of creative writting, growling one moment sining like a panzey the next gineric sound. Get over the fact your girlfriend doesn't love you anymore and move on with your music.

Don't listen to the other DIP SH*TS that reviewed this cd, it is really pretty damn good. No it is not the best album, but it sure as hell is not garbage like some say! How can some put BFMV and Atreyus name in the same sentence, Atreyu SUCKS. I hate Atreyu and I love BFMV. This CD is good, just get it!

After hearing 'Hand of Blood' and an immaculate, super-heavy version of 'Her Voice Resides', I was expecting great things from this album. Unfortunately, now, after numerous listens, I cannot see why such a fuss is being made over the release of 'The Poison'.

True, there are many good aspects to the album, a few good riffs, a quite frankly, beautiful, introduction on track one, and lyrics that many angst-ridden teenagers (like myself, I'll admit) will be able to relate to.

Unfortunately, though, the bad outweighs the good for me on this album, as a whole. The first thing that I noticed was the flawless, polished production. (and for a metal band, that is NOT a compliment!) I'm not great on the technical side of describing this, but if you listen to the album for a few minutes, you'll know what I mean. It's not raw and heavy, like proper metal should be. After hearing what Bullet sound like live, I was seriously let down by this.

The main thing, however, which annoyed me about this album, was Matt Tuck's whiny-cum-roaring vocals. It's laughable at times. One second he sounds like Gerard Way mixed with Westlife, the next, it's a pathetic impersonation of Corey Taylor and the heavier side of James Hetfield. Now, don't get me wrong, I'm all for variatons and extremities regarding vocals in metal, but Tuck takes these extremities one step too far. The roaring isn't too pathetic, but the girly whining is abominable...

...Which leads on to the lyrics. Yes, I know I stated earlier that many could relate to the lyrics, but they are just so (yes I really am going to use this word again) whiny. They are also quite unimaginative at times. Many songs (such as 'Ten Years Today' which deals with a friend of the bands' killing himself) have the lyrical potential to be touching and emotional, but it just comes out as WHINE!

And, musically, they're not even that heavy, due to the pop-like production.