Monday 13/12/04 Atreyu, Bullet For My Valentine @ Solus, Cardiff

You couldn’t get a more emo name than Bullet For My Valentine. It smacks of so much pain and self-conscious misery that it makes you faintly sick. Such a name sums up the entire mope/scream ethic that has bothered the radio in recent years, so, on paper at least, it comes as some surprise that this Welsh quartet are touring with uber-thrash metallers, Atreyu. Such preconceptions make it a damn good thing that paper is so easily torn up. On the second night of tour, BFMV threw that emo/schmemo crap out of the picture by launching a full-on aural assault on the ecstatic crowd at their feet – literally. Solus isn’t a massive place, but considering the flailing bodies bashing rhythmically against the stage, you wonder what damage would have occurred had they stayed at their original venue, the ‘intimate’ Clwb Ifor Bach.

Unashamedly influenced by old-school metal like Iron Maiden and Metallica (‘Master of Puppets’ might as well have been watching proudly over the gig),  Bullet For My Valentine set out to make their performance an event. Guitarist Padge points out on their website, “I don't see how a band can stand there for 40 minutes and just sing bollocks. What's the point? It's about putting on a show!” So it is we get guitars being pointed at excited faces in the audience and a scream walkabout from vocalist Matt, all lapped up by an audience eager to spur on their new heroes. Wales is an exciting place to be for music right now, and if tonight’s performance is anything to go by, BFMV have just tipped the iceberg.

Orange County five-piece Atreyu exploded out of nowhere in 2002 with their 90,000 unit shifting debut, ‘Suicide Notes and Butterfly Kisses,’ and haven’t looked back since. Despite playing to a crowd whose main pull was BFMV, they proceed to blast away any memory of bands who aren’t them, through the simple tactic of being thoroughly nice and polite between songs and blitzing noise barriers when playing. You finally understand why the 80s influenced BFMV are supporting, as Atreyu are past masters in the art of Tap-esque synchronised guitar movement. Instruments are flung around with a total lack of caution; snapping past necks with precise timing and, naturally, being played behind heads and with teeth. It’s an awesome spectacle and one that, thank god, is completely untouched by irony. Until
the thrash cover of ‘Bad Name’ kicks in – requested by the crowd no less.