# The Poison

The Poison is the debut studio album by Welsh heavy metal band Bullet for My Valentine. The album was released on 3 October 2005 through Visible Noise Records in the UK, and on 14 February 2006 in the United States, through Trustkill Records. 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 both gold certification by both the RIAA in the United States and the band's native BPI in the United Kingdom, and a platinum certification by Bundesverband Musikindustrie (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 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 compared the sound on The Poison to the likes of Atreyu, Funeral for a Friend and Alexisonfire, 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

Professional ratings :
| Review scores ||
| Source | Rating |
| AllMusic | |
| Big Cheese | |
| Drowned in Sound | 9/10 |
| Kerrang! | |
| Metal Hammer | |
| Q | |
| Total Guitar | |
| PunkNews.org | |
| Blabbermouth | 6/10 |
| Ultimate Guitar Archive | (9.1/10) |
| Sputnikmusic | |
Corey Apar of AllMusic awarded the album 3 stars out of 5, commenting that the album showed a "melodic metal-meets-emo 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 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

All lyrics are written by Matthew Tuck; all music is composed by Bullet for My Valentine

## Charts
### Album

| Chart (2005–2013) | Peak position |
| Austrian Albums (Ö3 Austria) | 43 |
| German Albums (Offizielle Top 100) | 25 |
| Japanese Albums (Oricon) | 37 |
| Scottish Albums (OCC) | 25 |
| UK Albums (OCC) | 21 |
| UK Rock & Metal Albums (OCC) | 1 |
| UK Independent Albums (OCC) | 3 |
| US Billboard 200 | 128 |
| US Heatseekers Albums (Billboard) | 2 |
| US Independent Albums (Billboard) | 9 |
| Chart (2024) | Peak position |
| German Albums (Offizielle Top 100) | 44 |
| UK Albums (OCC) | 66 |
| Scottish Albums (OCC) | 19 |
| UK Rock & Metal Albums (OCC) | 2 |

## Certifications

| Region | Certification | Certified units/sales |
| Germany (BVMI) | Platinum | 200,000$^‡$ |
| United Kingdom (BPI) | Gold | 100,000$^^$ |
| United States (RIAA) | Gold | 500,000$^^$ |
| $^^$ Shipments figures based on certification alone. $^‡$ Sales+streaming figures based on certification alone. |||