''The Poison'' is the debut studio album by Welsh heavy metal band

Bullet for My Valentine Bullet for My Valentine, often abbreviated as BFMV, are a Welsh heavy metal band from Bridgend, formed in 1998. The band is currently composed of Matthew Tuck (vocals, rhythm guitar), Michael Paget (lead guitar), Jason Bowld (drums) and J ...

. The album was released on 3 October 2005 through Visible Noise Records in the UK, and on

14 February It is observed in most countries as Valentine's Day. Events Pre-1600 * 748 – Abbasid Revolution: The Hashimi rebels under Abu Muslim Khorasani take Merv, capital of the Umayyad province Khorasan, marking the consolidation of the A ...

2006 in the United States, through

Trustkill Records Trustkill Records is an American independent record label that started as a hardcore punk fanzine in April 1993. It started releasing hardcore, metal and rock records and merchandise in 1994. In 2010, the president of Trustkill, Josh Grabelle, fo ...

. The album included 11 new songs and two previously heard songs, "Cries in Vain", which was previously heard from the band's self-titled UK EP and from their US EP, '' Hand of Blood'', as well as from "4 Words (To Choke Upon)" was previously included on the same US release. Different editions of the album contain the song "Hand of Blood", previously heard from these EPs, replacing "Spit You Out". The album debuted at number 128 on the ''Billboard'' 200 and number 2 on the Heatseekers Chart, and as of 30 January 2018, the album has sold 1,600,000 copies worldwide and 500,000 copies in the US. It is the band's most commercially successful effort internationally, earning a gold certification by both the

RIAA The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) is a trade organization that represents the music recording industry in the United States. Its members consist of record labels and distributors that the RIAA says "create, manufacture, and/o ...

in the United States and the band's native BPI in the United Kingdom, and a platinum certification by

Bundesverband Musikindustrie The ( English: Federal Music Industry Association), or simply BVMI, represents the music industry in Germany. The association represents the interests of nearly 280 labels and music industry related enterprises, which comprise 90% of the music i ...

(BVMI) in Germany. For the 20th anniversary of the album, the band released a 20th anniversary edition of the album and announced 'The Poisoned Ascendancy' Tour with

Trivium The trivium is the lower division of the seven liberal arts and comprises grammar, logic, and rhetoric. The trivium is implicit in ("On the Marriage of Philology and Mercury") by Martianus Capella, but the term was not used until the Carolin ...

that will take place in 2025 with Trivium celebrating the 20th anniversary of their successful album '' Ascendancy.''

Musical style

At the time of the album's release, Corey Apar of

Allmusic AllMusic (previously known as All-Music Guide and AMG) is an American online database, online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on Musical artist, musicians and Mus ...

compared the sound on ''The Poison'' to the likes of

Atreyu Atreyu is an American metalcore band from Yorba Linda, California, formed in 1998. The band's current line-up consists of clean vocalist Brandon Saller, guitarists Dan Jacobs and Travis Miguel, bassist and unclean vocalist Marc "Porter" McKn ...

Funeral for a Friend Funeral for a Friend are a Welsh post-hardcore band from Bridgend, Wales, Bridgend, formed in 2001. The band's members are Kris Roberts (guitar, backing vocals), Gavin Burrough (guitar, vocals), Darran Smith (guitar), Richard Boucher (bass), an ...

and

Alexisonfire Alexisonfire (pronounced "Alexis on Fire") is a Canadian post-hardcore band formed in St. Catharines, OntarioRoss, Mike. "", Canadian Online Explorer, CANOE JAM!, April 30, 2004. Retrieved on July 17, 2007. in 2001. The band's members are Georg ...

, stating that the band utilize "the glossy, melodic metal-meets-emo aesthetic, utilizing darkly romanticized lyrics that are smoothly sung and growled side-by-side". Raziq Rauf of Drowned in Sound also compared the album's sound to the early work of Atreyu.

Reception

Corey Apar of

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All-Music Guide and AMG) is an American online database, online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on Musical artist, musicians and Mus ...

awarded the album 3 stars out of 5, commenting that the album showed a " melodic metal-meets-

emo Emo () is a genre of rock music characterized by emotional, often confessional lyrics. It emerged as a style of hardcore punk and from the Washington, D.C., hardcore scene, where it was known as emotional hardcore or emocore. The bands ...

aesthetic" peppered with "powerful riffs and classic metal". Sputnikmusic gave the album a 3.5 out of 5, saying the group offers "differing levels of hope for the metalcore genre." Music Emissions complimented the album's guitar work and hooks, but believed only fans of the metalcore genre would enjoy the album. ''

Stylus Magazine ''Stylus Magazine'' was an American online music and film magazine, launched in 2002 and co-founded by Todd L. Burns. It featured long-form music journalism, four daily music reviews, movie reviews, podcasts, an MP3 blog, and a text blog. Addi ...

'' gave the album a C− (below average) and said that ''The Poison'' album appeared to be "made for provincial 15-year-olds to get violent with each other", citing "The Poison" and " Suffocating Under Words of Sorrow (What Can I Do)" as the album's strongest songs. Punknews.org wrote that the album was "drab", criticizing the album's pace, vocal delivery, and dynamics.

Track listing

Personnel

;Bullet for My Valentine *

Matthew Tuck Matthew Tuck (born 20 January 1980) is a Welsh musician, best known as the lead vocalist and rhythm guitarist of the heavy metal band Bullet for My Valentine. He is also a guitarist and singer in the supergroup AxeWound, which was formed in ...

– lead vocals, guitar, bass (uncredited) * Michael "Moose" Thomas – drums * Michael "Padge" Paget – guitar, backing vocals * Jay James – bass (credited but did not perform), vocals ;Additional musicians *

Eicca Toppinen Eino Matti "Eicca" Toppinen (born 5 August 1975) is a Finland, Finnish cello, cellist, songwriter, producer, and arranger. In 1993 he formed the quartet Apocalyptica. Biography Toppinen grew up in Vantaa's Hakunila and has three sisters and o ...

– arrangement (on "Intro") *

Apocalyptica Apocalyptica is a Finnish symphonic metal band from Helsinki, formed in 1993. The band is currently composed of three classically trained cellists Eicca Toppinen, Paavo Lötjönen, and Perttu Kivilaakso. Originally a Classical music, classical- ...

– cellos (on "Intro") ;Production details * All lyrics by Matt Tuck * All music by Bullet for My Valentine **Except "Intro" cellos by

, arrangement by Eicca Toppinen **Except "Welcome Home (Sanitarium)" by

Metallica Metallica is an American heavy metal band. It was formed in Los Angeles in 1981 by vocalist and guitarist James Hetfield and drummer Lars Ulrich, and has been based in San Francisco for most of its career. The band's fast tempos, instrume ...

*Published by Harmageddon Publishing Ltd / Universal Music Publishing SAS * All tracks produced & mixed by

Colin Richardson Colin Richardson is a British record producer, mixer and recording engineer An audio engineer (also known as a sound engineer or recording engineer) helps to produce a recording or a live performance, balancing and adjusting sound source ...

**Except "Hit the Floor" produced & mixed by Colin Richardson &

Andy Sneap Andy Sneap (born 18 July 1969) is an English guitarist, record producer, and composer with over 100 albums to his name, most of which have been produced at his Backstage Recording studios in rural Derbyshire. Some of the most critically acclaim ...

* All tracks mixed at The Chapel, Lincolnshire **Except "4 Words (To Choke Upon)" mixed at The Sonic Ranch,

El Paso, Texas El Paso (; ; or ) is a city in and the county seat of El Paso County, Texas, United States. The 2020 United States census, 2020 population of the city from the United States Census Bureau, U.S. Census Bureau was 678,815, making it the List of ...

**Except "Hit the Floor" mixed at Backstage Studios, Derbyshire * Engineered by Dan Turner * Engineering assistance by Will Bartle, Matt Hyde & Justin Leigh * Recorded at The Chapel (Lincolnshire), Backstage Studios (Derbyshire), Notting Pill Studios ( Newport) & SUSI Studios (Finland) * A&R – Martin Dodd * A&R UK – Julie Weir * Worldwide management – Paul Craig at Supervision Management Ltd * Agent – Paul Ryan at The Agency Group (excluding US) * Artwork by S2 at laboca.co.uk * Video footage filmed and edited by Dan Fernbach at Static Films * Band photographs by Patrick Ford

Charts

Album

Certifications

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Poison, The 2005 debut albums Bullet for My Valentine albums Trustkill Records albums Visible Noise albums Metalcore albums by Welsh artists