Bullet For My Valentine

Welsh quartet Bullet For My Valentine straddle metal, punk and emo in a manner not hugely dissimilar to their Bridgend brethren Funeral For A Friend. The band formed out of the ashes of Jeff Killed John, who were on the verge of recording their debut when their bassist’s departure brought proceedings to a swift end. Childhood friends and former Jeff Killed John bandmates Matthew Tuck, Michael Padget and Michael Thomas teamed up with another friend Jason James to form Bullet For My Valentine in 2003.

It only took two gigs for Bullet For My Valentine to sign to Visible Noise. They released their self-titled debut EP in late 2004 – reissued in the US as Hand Of Blood a year later – with their first full-length, The Poison, following in early 2006. The band found avid supporters in Kerrang! – who gave them their Best Newcomer award and invited them to headline their 25th birthday tour – and Download Festival, who made Bullet For My Valentine into their de facto house band with four appearances in six years between 2005 and 2010.

BFMV’s second album, Scream, Aim, Fire, saw the band take leaps forward, charting highly in both the US and UK, with the eponymous single topping the UK rock charts. This success was reinforced with 2010’s equally successful Fever. Tuck briefly stepped away from the band in 2012 to record with the metal supergroup AxeWound (featuring members of Pitchshifter and Cancer Bats) but he was back with BFMV for 2013’s Temper Trap.

Venom followed in 2015, the band’s first album with new bassist Jamie Mathias (formerly of Revoker). Michael Thomas left the band in preparation for his first child, eventually replaced by Jason Bowld for the band’s 2018 album Gravity.

In 2021, the band announced their self-titled, seventh studio album was set for an October release. Bullet For My Valentine UK tour dates were scheduled for October and November 2021.