Temper Temper, Time to Implode

   Bullet (or Boolit if you're British) For My Valentine just released their fourth studio album, Temper Temper.

   The metalcore group out of rural Wales stayed quiet after the release of their 2010 album Scream Aim Fire.  They toured most of the states and Europe before retiring to the studio to work on their follow up album.

   Scream Aim Fire had its bright spots.  The head-banging title track Scream Aim Fire with an impressive breakdown. Ashes of the Innocent still "sends shivers down my spine." Waking the Demon can escalate anyone's heart rate.  It also has its obligatory benign ballads like Hearts Burst into Fire and Forever and Always.  All and all, it was a good album and tough act to follow.

   Unfortunately, Temper Temper falls pretty flat.  Gordan Ramsay would say "it's so bland."  There's no originality in it.

   I can't take the title track seriously.  The refrain is "temper temper, time to explode."  This looks like an attempt to capture the same teenage angst so aptly bottled in Waking the Demon.  The thought of a thirty year old man losing his religion is not edgy.  It's sad and immature.  There's anger management for that.

   Then you have Riot.  The song isn't all that heavy and the chorus wails "riot! whoaaaaa."  I wonder how long it took them to think up those lyrics. It's another sad attempt at a teenage anthem/radio hit.

   All and all, it sounds like Bullet's out of ideas, so they're recycling the same stuff that used to work off of Scream Aim Fire.  It sounds over done and vanilla now.  What a shame.

   What happened to songs like Hand of Blood and Hit the Floor?  They should have tried to recapture that sound.  This is what classic Bullet sounds like and what they need to go back to: