LIVE REVIEW: Bullet For My Valentine @ The Roundhouse, London
The second tour of an album cycle is always going to be difficult to navigate. How does a band make the set list different from the last tour? Do they even bother to do that? Is the stage show going to be different? What about the venues? Scaling down their production come metalcore titans BULLET FOR MY VALENTINE who hope to lay waste to The Roundhouse in Camden.
How does a rock band hype up a crowd before walking on stage? By playing DARUDE’s Sandstorm as their walk on track. No, that’s not a trick question or a joke. Watching a room of metalheads rave and flash their phone torches to the dancehall classic is a joyous sight. With the crowd now at fever pitch, ATREYU takes to the stage. Would it have been wrong to expect a powerhouse track to start proceedings? Not at all but it wasn’t what greeted us as Strange Powers Of Prophecy’s acapella introduction floats across the room. A slight disjoint perhaps but the song soon descends into a chaos with a wall of riffs and a shaking of the ass from vocalist Brandon Sellers.
Becoming The Bull drives the chaos further with the first of small pits breaking out. Marc McKnight’s bass work proves a force to be reckoned with as his simultaneous screams cut through the room. As our attention deviates to a pit for a moment, Sellers takes the opportunity to jump into the crowd and saunter through the patrons. We would think this would interfere with the vocal performance in some way but Seller’s efforts remain exemplary. Slipping between screams and cleans, Ex’s And Oh’s opens the floor for the first official circle pit of the night. This metalcore classic still sounding as good as it did all the way back in 2006.
While Save Us breaks things down into a melodic portion of the evening, the energy remains just as high. Dan Jacobs flies across the stage, attacking the songs with meaty riffs. Floating into recently released Drowning, Sellers informs us London has streamed the song the most. Drowning sounds weightier live than it does in the studio setting and patrons flock to the chorus like moths to a flame. Drowning slams into Battle Drums at high velocity. McKnight comes out from behind his bass to perform the screams for the highlight of ATREYU’s set. Battle Drums bears the weight of many hard fought battles and exudes ferocity which bleeds into closing track Blow. Our only criticism being the full version of WHITNEY HOUSTON’s I Wanna Dance With Somebody not coming to light.
Rating: 7/10
Having been granted permission from their government to leave the country, Ukrainian JINJER emerge from the wings to raucous noise. After a moment, vocalist Tatiana Shmailyuk finally appears donned in a striking UV bodysuit. Wasting little time with pleasantries, the band tears straight into Who’s Gonna Be The One. What we’re greeted with is a powerhouse performance from Shmailyuk who flits between singing and screaming showing no sign of struggling to do so. Who’s Gonna Be The One sets the tone perfectly for a band who is fraught with rage and frustration towards their home country’s plight.
This frustration fuels Copycat’s testament of an abusive relationship. Roman Ibramkhalilov switches from thick riff to delicate noodling as Shmailyuk’s growls of “It’s like I buy the same old shit/ Under a new label” lay waste to The Roundhouse. We’re quick to notice there is very little crowd engagement but with a band like JINJER, it isn’t always needed. The energy and connection lies within the musical performance. The feeling of rampant anger is universal after all, no matter the circumstance. It’s this which Home Back feeds upon. Dedicated to the band’s motherland, the state is bathed in blue and yellow lighting which symbolises the Ukrainian flag. Ibramkhalilov’s muted riff slithers over Vladislav ‘Vladi’ Ulasevich’s understated beat before Shmailyuk’s lower register singing draws the ear away.
Judgement (& Punishment) and Pit Of Consciousness bring about more the same. The former’s undulating instrumental sates the pitter’s desire for some movement while the latter hits like a freight train. JINJER are a band of pure relentlessness as there is very little time to breathe between each song. This is a band who are making the most of their time on the stage and dare not waste a moment of it. Perennial is Shmailyuk at her most versatile as she meanders through the extent of her vocal abilities and proves herself to be one of the most criminally underrated vocalists of the modern era.
Vortex turns the room into just that. A crowd spiralling into madness to the tune of downturned guitars and unwavering drums. Though not all is as it seems as we peek some audience members checking the time and wondering when the set may be finished. While not for everyone and no umbridge is taken here, JINJER is a band we implore everyone to see at least once, purely for the experience and to answer the question of whether they live up to the hype. With closing Call Me A Symbol, we’re almost inclined to do just that. JINJER is a prime example of resilience in the face of adversity and seizing each moment while we’re able. If we are able to sum this up in one sentence: this set surely was Glory to Ukraine.
Rating: 8/10
How does anyone follow a band like that? BULLET FOR MY VALENTINE opt for the aggressive route also. If you can’t beat them and all that. The foursome take to the stage amidst a myriad of screams and static from a walk on track. Vocalist Matt Tuck leads the charge on Knives and the madness begins. Though this was the opening track on the band’s previous tour, the vast space of the Hammersmith Apollo seemed to work against them. It’s close and ferocious in The Roundhouse – with little room to breathe. Leading into Over It, bassist Jamie Mathias seems to take over a lot of the vocal performance, Tuck’s voice leaning more towards sounding strained. That’s not an unusual phenomenon on the last night of a tour and not something we’re going to criticise.
Mathias’ bass creeps up the spine and resides in our rib cage with the boisterous Piece Of Me. Accompanied by the downtuning from Michael ‘Padge’ Paget’s thunderous riffs, the Gravity number still remains a fan favourite. Though any reaction to that is decimated in almost an instant with 4 Words (To Choke Upon). Before the band fires up the time machine to The Poison, Tuck takes centre stage and proclaims “we want to try and fit twenty years of BULLET into a single set for you guys”. We’ll comment on that at the end. For now, however, this visit to where it all started is a wonderful nostalgia trip. In a feature with Distorted Sound, Padge joked The Poison is the record he learned to play guitar on. Though looking at him strutting across the stage now with the greatest of ease, no one would ever have thought that.
Moving into another melodic portion of the evening, You Want A Battle? (Here’s A War) has the crowd tuning their singing voices while still trying to emulate Tuck and Mathias’ screams. Yet the biggest reaction of the night comes from a fan voted song. “We wanted you guys to vote for a song you might never have heard before” Tuck states while he adjusts his guitar, “You guys chose… this.” As the melody from Hearts Burst Into Fire pipes into the room, fans reach a fever pitch and a plethora of phones shoot into the air to record this somewhat historic moment. Hearts Burst Into Fire could easily have been the highlight of the evening. The band sounds as tight as ever. Tuck’s voice seems to have righted itself bar the odd scratchy moment.
The next four songs lay down the gauntlet, not only for the fans but for the band also. The Last Fight exudes rage. Tuck and Padge’s guitar tones melding together seamlessly. Sweat flies from Jason Bowld (drums) as he dictates the pace of the ever growing mosh pit. Moving into one swirling mass of sweaty bodies and tangled hair, the circle pit finds little time for reprieve as Shatter blasts through the room. The guttural growls of the chorus are far better suited for rooms of this size. Guitars echoing against the curved walls adding to the density of noise and the feeling we’re in a far more intimate show than this. While things slow for a moment with All These Things I Hate (Revolve Around Me), it has very little impact on the crowd’s rowdiness. BULLET FOR MY VALENTINE is simply drowned out by the proclamations of “just back off before I snap” leading into the earworm riff from Tuck. Yet the biggest test comes with Scream Aim Fire. With a circle pit so animated that several shoes were lost (though never a pair of them), this sheer wall of noise and slab of heaviness threatens to take the crown for song of the set.
For a band like BULLET FOR MY VALENTINE, there’s a lot of material to pack into an hour and a half. Especially if they want to showcase 20 years of the group. This is where our biggest gripe lies. Having Rainbow Veins and Death By A Thousand Cuts so close together makes the recent self-titled the joint-most represented album – alongside The Poison. Granted, the eponymous album was released in 2021 and is the reason this tour is happening. Yet if a band is going to celebrate two decades of existence, we would expect a touch more variety. Though variety soon comes in the shape of Tuck’s son Evann. His first time ever on stage, Evann walks out to give the crowd a shy wave before taking his dad’s guitar. What comes next is a rendition of Don’t Need You which borders on perfection. With Tuck free to roam around the stage as he sings, he doesn’t venture too far without looking back to cheer on his 13 year old son.
The band’s encore is where nostalgia resides. Picking up with Your Betrayal, it feels as though Death By A Thousand Cuts is made slightly redundant as the closer of the main set. Though very little stops BULLET FOR MY VALENTINE at this juncture as the Welsh titans plough through the track with vigorous ease. Tuck presents an acoustic guitar and takes a moment to thank the crowd for making their way out in the rain. Picking out a melody which sparks the fire of any elder emo, Tuck leads the charge for Tears Don’t Fall, letting the crowd sing the first verse and chorus. A moment elapses before the full band launches into the iconic metalcore track. Waking The Demon hits a slight stumbling block in that it doesn’t quite sound right. Something feels flat and disjointed. Whether the fatigue of the tour has finally caught up, or it was simply a sound issue from a cup of water being launched over it, this closer doesn’t hit as it should. It wasn’t an issue for the crowd as they were as rambunctious as ever until the very end, ending the night with an albeit muffled bang.
Wandering off towards various tube stations at the end of the night, fans often share their opinions of what they’ve just witnessed. Tonight was no different. There were comparisons between this and the Hammersmith Apollo show in 2021 and tonight, hands down was the superior of the two. This doesn’t mean BULLET FOR MY VALENTINE aren’t capable of headlining larger venues or festivals like Download or 2000trees. The band has worked hard and deserve those accolades. There’s just nothing quite like seeing a band such as BULLET FOR MY VALENTINE in a smaller room with the capacity to turn it into a sweat box.
Rating: 8/10
Check out our photo gallery of the night’s action in London from Karolina Janikunaite here:
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