No wonder the kids are confused — first by metalcore, the bastard subgenre that has ruined two perfectly good outlets of youthful rebellion, then by this breed of hard rockers who insist on sharing their insecurities in every tune. (I blame HIM and their “love metal.”) Into this mess come Welsh outfit Bullet For My Valentine — not, as their name implies, emo, but self-professed practitioners of a New Wave of British Heavy Metal. Kerrang! loves ‘em. They got kicked off a Rob Zombie tour for bad-mouthing him on their message boards. They play Flying V guitars. So these guys are obviously candidates to actually cut through this metalcore nonsense then, right?
Perhaps, but first fans gathered at the Kool Haus had to sit through a set by Californians Bleeding Through. I lost count of how many musical styles they were trying to blend. They may have been a decent hardcore band at one time, before someone had the idea to throw in random guitar shredding and keyboards on top of their brutally muscular rhythm sections. Songs started and finished for no reason, with requisite breakdowns for the vocalist to deliver his repeated pleas to “go apeshit.” Also, their backdrop logo seemed to have neither B or T in it. They get points for givin’ ‘er, but frankly, I’d like to give it back.
Bullet For My Valentine at least showed they know what rock ‘n’ roll is — playing “You Shook Me All Night Long” before appearing in shadow behind a white curtain, cutting quite a figure with their Flying Vs. The crowd voluntarily went apeshit. Twin axe attacks teasing the climax of each song. Actual songs. And skinny frontman Matt Tuck posing on the monitors like a man who just came to town “to fucking rock!” Too bad, then, that BFMV also take the call-and-response screamo growl route, and write self-pitying lyrics such as “all these things I hate revolve around me.” Seriously, what’s wrong with songs about dragons?
There’s a big, big difference between being metalcore and metal to the core. If that’s confusing to you, there are some tickets left for tonight’s Motörhead gig — I think Lemmy can set you straight.