Venom (Bullet for My Valentine album)
Venom is the fifth studio album by Welsh heavy metal band Bullet for My Valentine. The album was released on 14 August 2015 via RCA Records, their second and last album under the label. It is the first album by the band since the departure of bassist Jason "Jay" James, which was announced in February 2015 while the band was recording the album. Jamie Mathias was announced as his replacement on 18 May 2015, along with the album's title, release date and release of the album's first single, "No Way Out". This  would also be the final album with founding drummer Michael "Moose" Thomas who parted ways with the band officially in 2017. "No Way Out" and "Broken" were premiered live during the band's headlining performance at the Camden Rocks Festival in London on 30 May 2015. The second and third singles, "You Want a Battle? (Here's a War)" and "Army of Noise", were released on 29 June and 17 July 2015, respectively. Another two songs, "Playing God" and "Worthless" were released respectively on 10 and 13 August 2015. The whole album was made available for streaming on YouTube on  14 August 2015. Jamie Mathias is credited as a band member but did not perform on this album; Tuck recorded all bass guitar parts instead. Mathias later said in an interview that he hopes to be involved in future band projects. Reception. "Venom" received mixed reviews from music critics. At Metacritic, which assigns a rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album has an average score of 58/100 based on 8 reviews, indicating "mixed or average reviews". British magazine "Kerrang!" awarded the album 4 stars, saying that "Venom has injected a whole new life into the British  metal heroes." "Alternative Press" and "AllMusic" both gave the album 3.5 stars. However, a negative review came from Bradley Zorgdrager of "Exclaim!" who gave the album a 3 out of 10. The critic wrote that "the lack of quality choruses leaves something to be desired. While their heaviest output won't win over any elitists, fans will also have trouble finding something here to sing along to." The album was included at number 37 on "Rock Sound"s top 50 releases of 2015 list.