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Metal Assault in association with CWG Magazine presents

Track Listing: Your Betrayal Fever The Last Fight A Place Where You Belong Pleasure And Pain Alone Breaking Out Breaking Down Bittersweet Memories Dignity Begging For Mercy Pretty On The Outside

As it is with the music industry in general, the state of heavy metal is in a weird place. Ever since Zeppelin, Sabbath and Deep Purple gave life to this unique brand of rock some 40-plus years ago, the genre has had its ups and downs in terms of musical growth and reputation, but with the ever-expanding family tree of metal continuously spawning new sub-categories, there seems to now be an overwhelming sense of creative stagnation. Of course, any metal enthusiast will probably try to fight you, if you some how imply that there isn't a difference between thrash metal and nu metalÐÐand of course, you would be wrong. But these differences among metal sub-genres don't change the fact that all of them have contributed to the drying of the heavy metal well.

Enter Bullet For My Valentine. As the pride and joy of Wales, this metalcore/thrash metal quartet has managed to attain an impressive following, both at home and across the pond in the states. With the huge success of the band's sophomore release Scream Aim Fire, Bullet For My Valentine is once again looking to establish themselves as the contenders of their particular genre of metal with their most recent effort, Fever.

And although they very well may still find themselves at the pinnacle of the metalcore/thrash metal scene after the reviews have come in, it won't be because of anything new and original. The album starts off with "Your Betrayal," which features a kinetic variation of a military drum roll that explodes into some heavily palm-muted guitar picking and technical hammer-ons and pull-offs. As energetic and fierce as this one-minute is, it still feels like a continuation of Scream Aim Fire. This sort of redundancy continues on "Begging For Mercy" with the screamed verses and sung choruses that sound exactly like half of their established catalog.

Read the rest of the review here.