WORDS AND IMAGES DESH KAPUR
Tonight it was the Mountford Hall Liverpool for a night of heavy heavy metal with Bullet For My Valentine, who was to be ably supported by Atreyu an American metalcore band from Yorba Linda, California, formed in 1998 and Ukrainian metalcore band Jinjer
First to take the stage were Atreyu, The band currently consists of clean vocalist Brandon Saller, guitarists Dan Jacobs and Travis Miguel, bassist and unclean vocalist Marc “Porter” McKnight, and drummer Kyle Rosa and to say they tore up the stage would be an understatement, loud, heavy, brash and they prowled, stalked screamed and shouted and the crowd loved every minute of it. With the reception this band seemed to get from the already packed-out venue, I couldn’t understand why they aren’t headlining their own tour of the UK
Next up were Jinjer and it was a completely different feel, not musically, it was still loud and heavy and lots of screaming vocals from female lead singer Tatiana Shmailyuk but visually this time it was minimum stage lighting, lots of flashing strobes and lead singer Tatiana looked amazing in what I can only describe as a Tron inspired neon catsuit and she strutted and high kicked her way all over the stage. By now the whole of the Mountford Hall was rocking and I’m sure the windows of the bar next door must have been rattling too.
Then it was time for the main event and the sold-out venue crowd was tired of waiting and chants of “ Bullet For My Valentine” rang around the venue.
Bullet For My Valentine, has a music career that spans over two decades are truly the kings of Welsh metal and heavy rock, And the band strode onto the stage, with the confidence of a band who are masters of their craft and masters of their craft they most certainly are.
Kicking off with “Knives” from their self-titled seventh studio album which was released in 2021. And it’s all go as Tuck’s scream rattles the walls and the first of countless thrown beers fly over the crowd into the photography pit the first crowd surfer is catapulted to the front, and into the pit with it, he is led out by the security and let back into the crowd, so he can join the ever-growing mosh pit, yep it’s going off and we are only one song in, this could get messy, but I think it’s supposed to.
BULLET FOR MY VALENTINE play a set which is a perfect balance of old and new material. Matt Tuck’s vocals, sound crisp, and hold its own against the backdrop of the combustible guitar riffs played by Michael Paget that seems to surge through the room, and the bass and drums of Jamie Mathias and Jason Bowld perfectly in sync, so loud, pumping you can feel it vibrating in your chest and still the the bodies fly over as the mosh pit gets wilder and bigger
There was very little communication between the band and the crowd the band preferred to let the music say everything it needed to. Tuck only briefly interrupted proceedings to thank the crowd for their reaction or to introduce a song, The setlist was brilliantly chosen it represented the full spectrum of musical output. It showcased right back to the first album and right up to new songs, BFMV are deliciously heavy and visceral with a brilliant mix of light and shade, Tonight BFMV brought their best game, and the whole place went off, sweat poured from the band, sweat poured from the audience and at times it looked like the walls were sweating too as the condensation ran down them, if you like your music hard and heavy then Bullet For MY Valentine should be on your playlist and in your record collection.
SETLIST
1/ KNIVES
2/ OVER IT
3/ PIECE OF ME
4/ WORDS (TO CHOKE ON)
5/ YOU WANT A BATTLE (HERE’S A WAR)
6/ HEARTS BURST INTO FIRE
7/ THE LAST FIGHT
8/ SHATTER
9/ ALL THESE THINGS I HATE (REVOLVE AROUND ME)
10/ SCREAM AIM FIRE
11/ SUFFOCATING UNDER WORDS OF SORROW (WHAT CAN I DO)
12/ RAINBOW VIENS
13/ DON’T NEED YOU
14/ DEATH BY A THOUSAND CUTS ENCORE
15/ YOUR BETRAYAL
16/ TEARS DONT FALL
17/ WALKING THE DEMON
FOLLOW BULLET FOR MY VALENTINE
FOLLOW JINJER
FOLLOW ATREYU
My life is a soundtrack, i track my life through music, photography is my passion, my escape, my expression. Without both i have pieces missing, thankfully i’m blessed and get to combine both.
Born in Manchester, lived in Australia for 22 years where i was heavily involved in the Australian Music Industry, firstly in bands (Singer) and then managing bands (all original), I moved back to the UK, Wales specifically 10 years ago
