1. Rediscover The Passion For Metal Music
Matt Tuck is 33 years old. He also has a daughter which Im sure provides a mind such as his with a million things to write about, yet what were getting is the same us-against-them mentality that worked for them as a teenager, yet now feels hollow and retreaded for the sake of attempting to further capitalise on that success. It must be hard for someone like Tuck to find that balance between mature topics, and those that the fans are going to want to hear, but when the most meaningful thing you can put out is Dead to the World, the opening lyric of which is Your words, have ripped out my insides!, well, were all in need of a change. Also, I know the guys arent autotuned, but there has to be a wealth of in-studio wizardry effecting Tucks vocals for him to sound more poppy than he ever did before. Whilst the new single Raising Hell heralded the return of some much-needed screaming, the vast majority of Fever, Temper Temper and even the latters verses lack a certain amount of vigour or venom. The real shame when you listen to Bullet is that potential is oozing out of every orifice. Matt Tuck has one of the best melodic minds this side of Disturbeds David Draiman (say what you will about Disturbed, they have some monstrously hooky songs), and even the title track from Temper Temper had a killer structure that had some less-cringeworthy lyrics sat atop it, wed all be much happier singing it back to him live. Speaking of live, the band operates with a steely resilience, never missing a show or coming on too late. The Bullet-faithful who remember their absolutely phenomenal Brixton DVD of 2006 have always seen a band who are playing for the sheer fun of it, albeit at this stage in their career things appear to have gotten a little too comfortable. With contemporaries Avenged Sevenfold taking on the Download headliner spot next year, it falls to the likes of Bullet, Trivium, Killswitch Engage etc. to follow suit, yet with a discography frontloaded with memorable tunes, itll be a while before Bullet are in the same league as the big boys. So what do you guys think? Maybe you love the direction theyre going, and are willing them to carry on attempting to smash in the doors of mainstream acceptance, being that if any industry needs a kick up the valentines, its that of pop? Was Temper Temper not actually that bad, serving its purpose of widening their appeal to a festival-dominating size, or were you just as nonplussed by its tonality as me? Let us know in the comments!