On the very same day Bullet For My Valentine (BFMV) announced they would be playing at Soundwave 2016, they also released their brand new album, ‘Venom’.
‘Venom’ is the much-anticipated album from the Welsh band following their 2013 record, ‘Temper Temper’. BFMV released the record while touring the US with Slipknot.
Matt Tuck (vocals/ guitar) says that, so far, the response for the record has been pretty positive. “I can’t remember an album launch being so successful and so positive… The last three days have just been an intense influx of lots of positivity for the band. We haven’t felt this ever. It’s amazing.”
When listening to ‘Venom’ you’ll notice it’s different to the previous record yet still consistent with BFMV’s signature sound. “What I think makes this album different is it’s kind of far more aggressive; it’s a lot more exciting... There are a lot of different things going on. It’s kind of a step-up in the other direction,” Matt explains.
“All of the vibes that make that band what we are, are all still there, and they’ve kind of always been there.”
BFMV took the time to reflect on their earlier records to inspire and influence ‘Venom’. “We kind of reflected on, and tried to remember, what kind of made us what we were in the first place. We tried to reconnect with what made our band special in the first place and kind of recapture a far more kind of clashier and exciting sounding band,” Matt says.
He believes that “from album to album the band had evolved and changed slightly” from what they were earlier on. With this is mind, BFMV felt the time was right to try and get back a heavier sound. “We wanted to kind of get in touch with the heavier side of the band. That was definitely lacking on the last record especially; we just wanted to step it up a little bit,” Matt says.
You may have recently seen the emotive video clip for ‘You Want Battle (Here’s A War)’. Matt admits that video clips aren’t usually something the band put a lot of heart and soul into. With this track, however, BFMV felt it could be enhanced by a visual representation. “This time round, we felt that that song, lyrically and the way it sounded, was a very powerful song and had very dark narrative lyrics and we wanted something that kind of captured that.
"So we put quite a bit of thought into it and we wanted something that was kind of striking and a very simple narrative but something that would strike a nerve with everyone that watched it and make the song a lot more powerful as well,” he explains.
With the nature of ‘Venom’ Matt says there are quite a few tracks on the record that could benefit from a film clip. “A lot of the songs on ‘Venom’ have very powerful and dark themes lyrically, so there are a few songs that could easily have some kind of film clip associated with it.”
BFMV will be making their way to Australia for three massive days at Soundwave next year. “We only kind of knew we were going to be on Soundwave the day before we actually announced it. It’s obviously been a few years since we’ve been to Australia but we’re excited to come back and we’re going to be coming back with the best album we’ve ever done under our belts, so it’s going to be very exciting times.
“The last couple of albums were very big, anthemic, hard-rock records that have metal parts in them. We wanted to make a full-blown metal record this time. It’s not influenced, as such, it was just sort of more of a conscious decision. We knew what we wanted to do before we did it.”
Soundwave 2016 Dates
Sat 23 Jan – BrisbaneSun 24 Jan – Sydney
Tue 26 Jan – Melbourne
