Bullet For My Valentine have successfully been releasing well-regarded albums since their 2005 debut Poison. That is, until 2018’s Gravity. Despite the album pushing them over 1 billion plays on Spotify and reaching number two in Billboard’s Hard Rock Albums chart, it was supremely divisive. Reviews called it lacklustre while noting how drastically different its material was to the band’s previous works. Fast forward to today, the release of Bullet’s seventh album – a self-titled venture – and the Welsh rockers feel like a brand new band. Speaking exclusively to Express.co.uk, Matt Tuck revealed why that is.

Ever the candid poet, Tuck was eager to set the record straight. “Gravity, for me, felt like a full stop on uncertainty,” he said over Zoom. “On a lot of different things in the band [and] outside of the band.

“And that just captured, I think, a beautiful moment in the band’s history. I think that album is so unique and so beautiful and kind of… what it is. And I felt like that was me, then, coming to terms with getting that out of my system.”

Smiling from ear to ear, he gestured at Bullet’s new self-titled record. “And now, this is what it is! I think this album will set us up for, hopefully, the next seven records. That’s exactly how it feels.”

Bullet For My Valentine’s self-titled album not only feels like a second chapter – and a new beginning for the band – but it also houses a lot of emotion. Something that has, arguably, been missing from their music for a while.

For example, one of the album’s songs is a glimpse inside Tuck’s own mental health struggles over the past two years.

He said: “Can’t Escape The Waves has, probably, my favourite lyrics on the record. 

“It’s definitely a song about mental health, about feeling kind of down, about feeling lonely, about feeling hopeless… It’s something that I have had – unfortunately – experiences of myself.

“But I have tried to really take it to the next level lyrically there. Put it together in words that people can relate to and also takes you on a visual journey as well.”

It’s clear and admirable that Tuck has put a lot of work into being truly introspective for this album’s lyrics. That doesn’t mean the album is an exercise in pacifism though – far from it. Self-titled has a staggering amount of girth within that is felt distinctly in its rhythmic, mechanical breakdowns (a feature that will leave fans ecstatic).

The merging of these two personas is exactly why Tuck is so excited for the next step of the band’s journey, despite their misstep in 2018.

Tuck confessed: “We did lose our way a little bit on Gravity, but I’m so proud that we made that record because we did what we wanted to do – even though we knew we were going to piss a lot of people off.

“This time around it feels a lot more settled. A lot more focused, a lot more confident, braver. and I think the fans… they’re going to love it.”

Looking back on Gravity and the verbal slamming it received from critics, does Tuck regret it in any way? “No.”

He explained: “I feel this album [Bullet For My Valentine] wouldn’t be what it is if it wasn’t for Gravity. I feel they really needed each other. And this new album and Gravity are, hands down, my two favourite things I’ve ever done in my life, creatively, as far as songwriting goes.”

Of course, being happy with your own work is something that no doubt plagues many musical artists around the world – but it feels like more than that with Tuck.

After a pensive beat, he added: “Write for yourself. Write what makes you happy. Write what will make you motivated to get on a bus on a plane for the next two years = because there’s a lot of sacrifice involved!

“If you don’t want to be there because you don’t believe in what you’ve [created]… it’s a slippery slope.”

Bullet For My Valentine from Bullet For My Valentine is out now.