I’m starting to see the pattern now. When I get sent singles like Bullet For My Valentine’s forthcoming download-only track “Waking The Demon”, the accompanying press release always spends paragraphs on telling me how the band have toured everywhere and sold squillions of albums, but rarely tells me anything about the music itself.
And I can only conclude it’s because the big-label publicity types know as well as I do there’s not much to say about the music. It is, by definition, unremarkable. Oh, sure - someone new to the rich cultural seam of rock music might be excited by Bullet For My Valentine’s reappropriation of the Bay Area thrash sound, which is pretty heavy stuff by the standards of daytime radio playlists. Maybe they’ll find the lyrical content of “Waking The Demon” fierce and edgy. And there’s nothing wrong with that.
But anyone who has more than a passing familiarity with rock music is going to find it little more than a beautifully-produced pop song, because that’s exactly what it is. “Waking The Demon” is a four minute slice of fast kick-driven drumming and slashing riffs scattered with harmonic squeals, with vocals that shout their way through the verses before dropping into harmonised chorus hooks; it represents the heavier end of Bullet For My Valentine’s material, but there’s nothing new to be found within its confines.
And why should there be? The world needs pop metal, I guess, and I’ve got no problem with bands who make it; life’s too short for wasting emotional energy on bands I don’t care about. It’s also too short for wasting time listening to music that doesn’t challenge me as a listener, which is why I don’t watch MTV2, and why I won’t be hearing “Waking The Demon” very often, if at all.
Bullet For My Valentine and their ilk have their place. They’re a primer for young listeners to dip their toes into metal and see if they like it; a gateway drug, if you like, the alcopops and cheap cider of rock music. If you’re even slightly accustomed to the harder stuff, however, “Waking The Demon” is going to taste weak and inauthentic … if they even serve it in your local.
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Posted in Music reviews |
Tags: Bullet For My Valentine, metal, pop, thrash, Waking The Demon
