The boys from Bridgend are back, minus a pair of tonsils, and with a far more old-school attack. Right from the off, the title track rips the place up as if it's 1987 on steroids. Thrash riffs and a very noticeably different sound to Matt Tuck's troubled vocal chords work alongside pounding drums, a crowd-pleasing "Over the top" chant-along and a solo so ludicrous it can only be met with comments such as "Dude!" and "Awesome!", followed by Bill and Ted air-guitar.

While it may sound like Thrash from the past, Thrash from the past was rarely this good. Scream Aim Fire can easily be compared to is Trivium's The Crusade, but where Heafy & co pissed their potential up the wall to become a Metallica parody band, BFMV have taken a dated sound and given it an invigorating shot of adrenaline to make an album that sounds fresh and modern, ending up with a sound of their own that kicks the arse of 90% of the thrash wannabes swarming out of the woodwork.

Whereas previous album The Poison's ballads let BFMV down, 'Say Goodnight' is the only uncomfortable moment on this album, and while the opening (and title) of the mid-tempo 'Hearts Burst into Fire' might set your cheese-alarms ringing, fear not! It turns out to be a necessary change of pace and one of the albums stand-out tracks. Though not as much as the following 'Waking The Demon', being easily the heaviest and arguably the best thing they've ever done.

Matt Tuck has been so audibly excited about this album, your expectations won't be met - this isn't the masterpiece he wanted it to be – it still sounds a little too dated lyrically and musically. However, Scream Aim Fire is a massive step up from The Poison, full of memorable, building-levelling tracks, and 2008 already has an album to get very excited about. Now please excuse us, we're off for some serious air-guitar. EXCELLENT !

Rating: 5/5 by Phill May

Tracklisting

1. Scream Aim Fire
2. Eye Of The Storm
3. Hearts Burst Into Fire
4. Waking The Demon
5. Disappear
6. Deliver Us From Evil
7. Take It Out On Me
8. Say Goodbye
9. End Of Days
10. Last To Know
11. Forever And Always

Further links

Bullet For My Valentine.com

Homepage of Bridgend's metal princes

Sony BMG.com

Label so big it could eat your house, home to everything from Good Charlotte to Bob Dylan to that horrid X-Factor sh*t.

Bullet For My Valentine on Myspace

Official Myspace page of Axl Rose-endorsed Welshmen Bullet For My Valentine