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!

Griever – Rebirthing ★★★★☆

Once you get past the cheesy horror flick sounds that introduce this EP, Griever have actually created a solid collection of satisfyingly chunky Metalcore. It would have been nice had the intro actually built up in to the first proper track…but instead it just ends. Bit of an anti-climax to be honest.

The real songs here though are very well put together, if a bit short on individual ideas. They sound great, with some real head banging riffs and relentless screaming, bringing to mind genre heavyweights Parkway Drive and Killswitch Engage.

These tracks are built to get people moving and sweaty, I can’t help but nod away just listening on my own. The urge to jump around in a live setting would be hard to resist, Griever certainly know their way around a decent breakdown! There are moments of respite to be found, most notably as Smoke & Mirrors takes a moment to chill before leading in to final track My Captain, My King. In fact, this calm before the storm is actually one of the highlights for me. As I mentioned, there does seem to be a shortage of ideas here, with several sections sounding more and more familiar as you make your way through the 5 songs on display (not including the intro). Too many times I heard the same blast beat lead verse and the same extended scream intro. So it was refreshing to hear something that hadn’t yet made it in to one of the other tracks. Special mention should also go to the almost haunting solo at the end of My Captain, My King. A very pleasant surprise amidst the endless brutality.

It always feels like a bit of a cop out to me, having the chorus repeat until the song fades out as seen at the end of this EP. But none the less, Griever have mastered the Metalcore formula and I’m definitely excited to see what they follow this up with! It may have been done before, but these boys do it as good as any of them. So if their aforementioned peers float your boat, I highly recommend you check out Rebirthing and keep an eye out for the big G. You can find them on Facebook HERE!

★★★★☆

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