Bullet For My Valentine’s Matt Tuck says he thinks that metal has “gone a bit stale”.
The band have just released their new album Gravity and during sessions for the record, Tuck reports that they ended up throwing a lot of material away as it felt like they were simply retreading old ground.
But with new drummer Jason Bowld onboard, formerly of Pitchshifter, they began experimenting with more electronics – and that gave them the spark they needed to make Gravity stand out from the crowd.
Speaking in the latest issue of Metal Hammer magazine, Tuck says: “Jason is a multi-instrumentalist and was willing to try anything because of his history in bands like Pitchshifter.
“Looking back, they were so ahead of their time, it’s ridiculous. They were just a bonkers band that incorporated a lot of electronic and different musical and percussive styles, to make interesting, heavy and exciting music.
“It’s a little bit of that flavour that we wanted to incorporate. We wanted to make something that was the complete opposite of Venom.”
Tuck adds: “I am never going to turn my back on metal, because it’s been my life for 20-odd years, but for me as a songwriter in the genre it’s all gone a bit stale.
“I’ve got to an age now, 38, where unique instrumentation and the way albums are produced and written has become more appealing to me. Someone like Muse’s Matt Bellamy can take a guitar and turn it into anything he wants it to be.
“Being in a metal band and watching 100 other metal bands, everyone’s using the same kind of techniques, scales and guitar tones – genre-standard things. For this new record, we’re trying to be different.”
Read the full interview in the latest issue of Metal Hammer, which is on sale now.
There are two special limited edition Bullet For My Valentine Metal Hammer bundles available. The Gravity bundle comes with an exclusive signed Gravity card and BFMV plectrum, while the Over It edition features an autographed lyric sheet and Gravity t-shirt.
