Thursday night just became metal mayhem night in Sydney as Bullet for My Valentine have descended on The Big Top in support of their latest album Venom, coming along for the ride are metalcore maestros Atreyu and new comers on the metal scene Cane Hill.
Alright lets get straight into this epic night with opening band Cane Hill, these guys have been having a great year with the release of their album Smile those who got there early enough to check them out all looked very happy to be up front getting themselves warmed up for whats to come. Their set was short but expect more good things to come from these guys and if you can catch them live do so especially to hear their track “Jesus” it is well worth it.
Metalcore maestros Atreyu have always been a band that sound great live although I have a mate that often tell’s me they are a bit hit and miss, well tonight they showed him as Atreyu absolutely killed it from start to finish as they so often do leaving me wanting more. The set would comprise mostly of songs from Lead Sails Paper Anchor but when they played songs like Ex’s and Oh’s, Lip Gloss and Black and Right Side of The Bed that’s when we really got into it with mass circle pits and even a stage diver who made it not once but twice. Musically Atreyu deliver the goods with dual guitar assault and the heavy banging of drums mixed in so well with Alex and Brandon providing the dual vocal sound Atreyu do so well in studio and even better live. No Atreyu set is complete with out there cover of Bon Jovi’s You Give Love A Bad Name if you have never seen this then you need to head to the next show ASAP. Before saying goodbye they would lead us in a Bullet ! Bullet ! Bullet ! chant and then sign off with four words we all love to scream LIVE, LOVE, BURN, DIE !
How does one build upon the already on a knifes edge anticipation of waiting for Bullet to take the stage well its simple you play Motor Heads The Ace Of Spades and at songs end light up the blackened stage reveal the band we have all been waiting for and just launch into No Way Out. They go straight on to the next song as the drum beat would kick like a machine guns fire and the lights flicker in time covering us in confusion and chaos as we shouted PAY THE PRICE FOR YOUR BETRAYAL. I thought things were already pretty pumped but it wasn’t enough for front man Matt Tuck as he demands we step shit up with an even bigger mosh for Waking The Demon.
If there is one song I always want Bullet to play live it’s Four Words To Choke Upon and I am so not alone in this as the crowd responds right away word for word body slam upon body slam watching the band all lined up in a row up all power stance shredding away on their instruments and just hearing the music rip a hole right through me. I thought to myself this is awesome and why I love what I do, live music is my life and all I can say to all my doubters and haters LOOk AT ME NOW !
When it comes to there latest album Venom which went number one in Australia (something they would later send out a massive thank you for) I knew there were certain tracks that I couldn’t wait to hear live and the best of these is You Want A Battle Here’s A War and it didn’t disappoint, once we hit the chorus with our hands held high rocking back and forth in one motion screaming, aiming and firing our lungs out.
Bullet are just one of those bands that have an awesome mega hit back catalogue that absolutely tears shit up live and we got to hear so much of it tonight including their first ever release The Poison along with one hell of an epic drum solo from Jason Bowld. For the finale they played Your Tears Don’t Fall the crowd would clap so loud it sounded like thunder and the lighting effects would shower us in a flicker of raw emotion as the drums pounded and the guitar’s would make our ears bleed.
After tonights show in Sydney you only have one chance to catch this epic trio of international metal awesomeness and that is at the Eatons Hill Hotel, Eatons Hill QLD 28/10/16 so make sure you do all three acts are just sensational.
Review – Chad
Photo – Christian Ross