Bullet For My Valentine + While She Sleeps (O2 Academy, Bournemouth – 01/10/15) ★★★★★

Whilst Bullet For My Valentine were born to play the arenas, While She Sleeps are definitely the sort of band I believe thrive on the smaller scale dingy sweat boxes with near non-existent stages. It’s not that they don’t deserve it, or they look lost on the bigger stage tonight, it’s clear that they make the most of having all that space to run around in! I don’t know, I guess it’s just the mood the music sets…they still pull off an incredible set though. Barely letting up the whole time, it’s fast and it’s heavy, broken up briefly with a mini speech on unity within the rock scene, very nice. It’s not long though before front man Lawrence is once again roaring, crowd surfing….and coughing up blood? Brutal! Ace work from these heavy as fook northern lads!

Tension builds in the darkness before Bullet For My Valentine emerge from a great wall of white light like some sort of metal messiah’s second coming, diving straight in to their trademark riffs, screams and duel guitar attacks. It’s fitting in a way, seeing as a lot of those who had been fans in their early years had most likely lost track of them until they heard they were making their debut appearance in Bournemouth…I know I had! They make up for this lost time though for sure, treating us to the oldies that made us fall in love with them in the first place; Four Words To Choke Upon, Suffocating Under Words Of Sorrow and Tears Don’t Fall all make the cut, and to a riotous response. Bournemouth has been waiting for this.

I have to admit, at one point it did occur to me that their performance seemed a bit too rehearsed, a bit clinical, something which I guess comes from over 15 years on the road. So it was a nice reminder that it hasn’t got to that point when after acknowledging that a trip to Bournemouth has been a long time coming, maybe the crowd should decide which classic track from debut album The Poison the band should play next. It was a close vote from where I was standing!

I think it’s safe to say that Bournemouth went ape shit crazy for these guys’ first trip here, so hopefully it’s been enough to encourage them to return. It seems that more and more well established artists are heading this way, so fingers crossed we get another chance to see the mighty Bullet For My Valentine….it’s been loud.

★★★★★

FYI: This review was written by me for www.bourne2goout.co.uk. Head over there for more news, reviews and interviews!