Bullet for My Valentine - Temper Temper

When you hear the title track of Bullet for My Valentine's fourth full-length release, it might be difficult to put your finger on where it all went wrong. The song pretty much sums up why the album fails on most levels to engage or maintain much interest. It's an album with no real threat, malice or grit from a metal band which has a fairly high-quality back-catalogue.

Take 'Saints & Sinners', for example: It has some fantastic guitar work going on, a great rhythm section and has to be turned up to 11 to appreciate it properly. However, there's just something missing. Matt Tuck starts the song with the line, "This is a fucked up world", so we understand there's some partial anger in the underbelly of the song, yet there's never any jeopardy or real angst which gets across through the vocals or the general tone of the song. This is symptomatic of the entire album.

Songs like 'Riot' and 'Leech' are just the same. Although they're fine as teenage anthems of introverted emotion, there just isn't anything in particular to get too excited about. The latter is the better song, with a seriously catchy chorus. It may even be the strongest track on the record. 'P.O.W.' is a song which does actually get across real emotion and doesn't just pass you by. It's a brilliant song but it's a shame there isn't much else which matches that level of quality

Overall, the album is just a little too timid. You just want a little more from a band who announced themselves in the scene years ago. Maybe they felt they could just release anything and fans would accept it regardless.