Album Review: Bulllet For My Valentine - Gravity

Bullet For My Valentine's profile and experience as high-profile heavy-hitters seemingly belies their relative youth.

It feels like they've been kicking about far longer than the little over a decade since The Poison broke them worldwide.

Six albums in, change seems inevitable, and perhaps mandatory for the Welsh melodic metal mob. Sizeable slabs of atmospheric electronica and icy synths throughout are heavily noticeable, adding some extra weight to their sound. The end result is still recognisable though, with cuts like the grooving Over It and the title track boasting a melodic sensibility that has propelled them to the brink of headlining certain European festivals.

There are some blander moments too, as well as instances where the new approach feels like cheap window dressing. But sometimes it pays off, their innovation resonates and injects a fresh edge to their sound like on The Very Last Time, a brooding, loop-filled track, or the heavy riffage of Coma. Conversely, there's also seemingly token nods to sections of their audience; an aggressive track like Don't Need You appears to be a concession to the hardened metalheads before the acoustic-laced Breathe Underwater closes out the record in a curious fashion.

Gravity may result in the furrowing of brows among the more blinkered of fans, and it has its flaws, but their continued rise up the ranks also seems very assured.