Venom (Bullet for My Valentine album)

Venom is the fifth studio album by Welsh heavy metal band Bullet for My Valentine. The album was released on 14 August 2015 via RCA Records, their second and last album under the label. It is the first album by the band since the departure of bassist Jason "Jay" James, which was announced in February 2015 while the band was recording the album.[5] Jamie Mathias was announced as his replacement on 18 May 2015, along with the album's title, release date and release of the album's first single, "No Way Out".[6] This would also be the final album with founding drummer Michael "Moose" Thomas who parted ways with the band officially in 2017.

Venom
Studio album by
Bullet for My Valentine
Released14 August 2015
RecordedLate 2013 – May 2015
StudioMetropolis Studios, London, England[1][2]
Genre
Length41:07
LabelRCA[4]
Producer
Bullet for My Valentine chronology
Temper Temper
(2013)		 Venom
(2015)		 Gravity
(2018)
Singles from Venom
  1. "No Way Out"
    Released: 18 May 2015
  2. "You Want a Battle? (Here's a War)"
    Released: 29 June 2015
  3. "Army of Noise"
    Released: 17 July 2015
  4. "Venom"
    Released: 16 October 2015
  5. "Worthless"
    Released: 8 February 2016
  6. "Skin"
    Released: 21 March 2016

"No Way Out" and "Broken" were premiered live during the band's headlining performance at the Camden Rocks Festival in London on 30 May 2015. The second and third singles, "You Want a Battle? (Here's a War)" and "Army of Noise", were released on 29 June and 17 July 2015, respectively. Another two songs, "Playing God" and "Worthless" were released respectively on 10 August and 13 August 2015. The whole album was made available for streaming on YouTube on 14 August 2015.

Jamie Mathias is credited as a band member but did not perform on this album; Tuck recorded all bass guitar parts instead. Mathias later said in an interview that he hopes to be involved in future band projects.[7][8]

Reception
Professional ratings
Aggregate scores
SourceRating
Metacritic58/100[9]
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[10]
DIY[11]
Exclaim![12]
The Guardian[13]
Louder Sound[3]
NME[14]
Sputnikmusic[15]
Metal Hammer [16]
Kerrang!
Evening Standard [17]

Venom received mixed reviews from music critics. At Metacritic, which assigns a rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album has an average score of 58/100 based on 8 reviews, indicating "mixed or average reviews".[9] British magazine Kerrang! awarded the album 4 stars, saying that "Venom has injected a whole new life into the British metal heroes." Alternative Press and AllMusic both gave the album 3.5 stars.[10] However, a negative review came from Bradley Zorgdrager of Exclaim! who gave the album a 3 out of 10. The critic wrote that "the lack of quality choruses leaves something to be desired. While their heaviest output won't win over any elitists, fans will also have trouble finding something here to sing along to."[12]

The album was included at number 37 on Rock Sound's top 50 releases of 2015 list.[18]

Track listing
Standard edition
No.TitleLength
1."V"1:26
2."No Way Out"3:53
3."Army of Noise"4:18
4."Worthless"3:18
5."You Want a Battle? (Here's a War)"4:14
6."Broken"3:39
7."Venom"3:54
8."The Harder the Heart (The Harder It Breaks)"4:00
9."Skin"3:59
10."Hell or High Water"4:36
11."Pariah"3:46
Total length:41:07
Deluxe Edition bonus tracks
No.TitleLength
12."Playing God"3:52
13."Run for Your Life"3:34
14."In Loving Memory"4:02
15."Raising Hell"4:35
16."Ace of Spades (Motörhead cover)"2:35
Total length:57:08

Personnel

Bullet for My Valentine

Additional personnel
  • Jason "Jay" James - bass guitar, backing vocals on all Japan and Best Buy live bonus tracks
  • Colin Richardson - production, mixing
  • Carl Bown - production, mixing, additional vocals on "You Want a Battle? (Here's a War)"
  • Jim Pinder - additional engineering
  • Josh Gilbert - co-production on "The Harder the Heart (The Harder It Breaks)" and "Skin"
  • Shane Blay - co-production on "The Harder the Heart (The Harder It Breaks)" and "Skin"
  • Alex Robinson - assistant engineering, co-mixing, vocals recording on "Ace of Spades"
  • Ted Jensen - mastering
  • Dan Brown, Austin Dickinson, Ryan Richards, Stefan Whiting, Jack Vallier, Henry Boeree, Rebekah Power, Emma Gorman, Lauren Metccalf, Alice Williams, Andrew Humphries & Ginnie Breakwell - gang vocals on "You Want a Battle? (Here's a War)"
  • Martyn "Ginge" Ford - production, mixing on "In Loving Memory (Demo Version)", engineering on "Raising Hell"

Charts
Chart (2015) Peak
position
Australian Albums (ARIA)[19] 1
Austrian Albums (Ö3 Austria)[20] 2
Belgian Albums (Ultratop Flanders)[21] 25
Belgian Albums (Ultratop Wallonia)[22] 33
Dutch Albums (Album Top 100)[23] 24
Finnish Albums (Suomen virallinen lista)[24] 4
German Albums (Offizielle Top 100)[25] 2
Irish Albums (IRMA)[26] 26
Japanese Albums (Oricon)[27] 34
New Zealand Albums (Recorded Music NZ)[28] 8
Swedish Albums (Sverigetopplistan)[29] 46
Swiss Albums (Schweizer Hitparade)[30] 1
UK Albums (OCC)[31] 3
US Billboard 200[32] 8
US Top Hard Rock Albums (Billboard)[33] 1
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References
Citations
  1. "BULLET FOR MY VALENTINE Begins Recording Fifth Album". Blabbermouth. 1 February 2015. Retrieved 20 May 2015.
  2. "Bullet for My Valentine Promotes Fifth Album in a New Teaser; New record to release in summer". Venture Capital Post. 7 May 2015. Retrieved 20 May 2015.
  3. Chillingworth, Alec (21 July 2015). [loudersound.com/reviews/bullet-for-my-valentine-venom "Bullet For My Valentine: Venom"] Check |url= value (help). Louder Sound. Retrieved 25 June 2020.
  4. "BULLET FOR MY VALENTINE's MATT TUCK: 'We've Reinvented Who We Are' On 'Venom' Album". Blabbermouth. 18 May 2015. Retrieved 20 May 2015.
  5. "BULLET FOR MY VALENTINE Parts Ways With Bassist JASON JAMES". Blabbermouth. 9 February 2015. Retrieved 20 May 2015.
  6. Zadrozny, Anya (18 May 2015). "Bullet for My Valentine Unveil New Bassist, New Song and New Album Details". Loudwire. Retrieved 20 May 2015.
  7. "W:O:A - Wacken Open Air : Intro". www.wacken.com. Retrieved 18 January 2018.
  8. PureGrainAudio (24 September 2015). "Bullet For My Valentine Interview with Bassist Jamie Mathias on Joining the Band [NN008]". Retrieved 18 January 2018 – via YouTube.
  9. "Bullet For My Valentine – Venom: Reviews". Metacritic. CBS Interactive. Retrieved 15 August 2015.
  10. "Venom - Bullet for My Valentine - Songs, Reviews, Credits - AllMusic". AllMusic. Retrieved 18 January 2018.
  12. "Bullet For My Valentine Venom". exclaim.ca. Retrieved 18 January 2018.
  13. Lawson, Dom (13 August 2015). "Bullet for My Valentine: Venom review – unconvincing metallers retain bad habits". the Guardian. Retrieved 18 January 2018.
  14. "Bullet For My Valentine - 'Venom' - NME". NME. Retrieved 18 January 2018.
  15. "Review: Bullet For My Valentine - Venom - Sputnikmusic". www.sputnikmusic.com. Retrieved 18 January 2018.
  16. "Bullet For My Valentine: Venom". 21 July 2015. Retrieved 18 January 2018.
  17. "Bullet For My Valentine - Venom, album review". Retrieved 18 January 2018.
  18. Bird, ed. 2016, p. 24
  19. "Australiancharts.com – Bullet for My Valentine – Venom". Hung Medien. Retrieved 22 August 2015.
  20. "Austriancharts.at – Bullet for My Valentine – Venom" (in German). Hung Medien. Retrieved 27 August 2015.
  21. "Ultratop.be – Bullet for My Valentine – Venom" (in Dutch). Hung Medien. Retrieved 21 August 2015.
  22. "Ultratop.be – Bullet for My Valentine – Venom" (in French). Hung Medien. Retrieved 21 August 2015.
  23. "Dutchcharts.nl – Bullet for My Valentine – Venom" (in Dutch). Hung Medien. Retrieved 21 August 2015.
  24. "Bullet for My Valentine: Venom" (in Finnish). Musiikkituottajat – IFPI Finland. Retrieved 25 August 2015.
  25. "Longplay-Chartverfolgung at Musicline" (in German). Musicline.de. Phononet GmbH. Retrieved 21 August 2015.
  26. "GFK Chart-Track Albums: Week 34, 2015". Chart-Track. IRMA. Retrieved 21 August 2015.
  27. "グラヴィティ- ブレット・フォー・マイ・ヴァレンタイン". oricn ME inc. Retrieved 10 July 2017.
  28. "NZ Top 40 Albums Chart". 24 August 2015. Retrieved 21 August 2015.
  29. "Swedishcharts.com – Bullet for My Valentine – Venom". Hung Medien. Retrieved 21 August 2015.
  30. "Swisscharts.com – Bullet for My Valentine – Venom". Hung Medien. Retrieved 27 August 2015.
  31. "Bullet for My Valentine | Artist | Official Charts". UK Albums Chart. Retrieved 21 August 2015.
  32. "Bullet for My Valentine Chart History (Billboard 200)". Billboard. Retrieved 24 August 2015.
  33. "Bullet for My Valentine Chart History (Top Hard Rock Albums)". Billboard. Retrieved 24 August 2015.
Sources
  • Bird, Ryan, ed. (January 2016). "Top 50 Releases of the Year". Rock Sound. London: Freeway Press Inc. (208). ISSN 1465-0185.
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