If there has ever been a record that needed to be called a ?transition
album,? it is this one. Scream Aim Fire
plays like that insecure freshman in college who is unsure if he wants to leave
behind his high school self and fashion a new personality or try to incorporate
his old self into the college life.
Essentially, this record tries to exist in both the metal
world and the metalcore world. The former is clearly where Bullet wants to be
and in some ways is headed. Trouble is, if Bullet completely dumps its
metalcore roots, they risk losing the majority of their fan base, which was
built upon the emo-metal sound of their debut record, The Poison. So what are the Welsh boys to do?
First, the bad news: Yes, Bullet still plays metalcore. Yes,
it is still irritating. But the riffs are so damn good. ?Say Goodnight,? for
example, has a great riff approximately three minutes in. The problem is that
the riff is buried beneath lyrics that reek of emo wrist-slashing sensibilities
(?Heaven?s waiting for you/ Just close your eyes and say goodbye?) and a song
structure that generally goes nowhere. Unfortunately, this sums up the majority
of the album.
But Scream does
show promise for future records. The title track is one of the few songs that
shows progression and can actually be considered metal. Ironically enough, ?Scream
Aim Fire? is almost completely devoid of lead vocalist Matt Tuck?s scream. That
is not to say that Tuck?s scream is not great ? it is when paired with the
clean vocals in the choruses, the combination became a formula they played to death
on The Poison. His clean vocals here
are great, if somewhat James Hetfield-esque. I guess Matt Tuck is following his
de facto American brother-in-metalcore Matt Heafy, of Trivium. That said, the
song has a killer riff and lyrics that did not have me shaking my head and
sighing. There is hope after all.
However, hope seems to dwindle by track five, ?Disappear.?
By this point, the songs begin to sound too similar, resulting in a stale
record less than halfway through. This is never a good sign. From there, the
only notable change in song structure is in length. While most of the riffs and
solos are memorable (a rare thing these days), the songs themselves are not.
Certainly, Matt and company play with conviction, which is
always admirable. Nevertheless, this conviction is misplaced in a fashion-trend
genre that should just die off. The band is much like that father on a family
road trip who never admits he?s lost. We can only hope Bullet For My Valentine
stops watching ?Headbangers Ball? for inspiration. Now, can we talk about the
name, guys?
2 1/2 stars out of 5
