While sending the album out to press on Valentine's Day in a red heart shaped box may have been a touch overboard, in some ways this gesture is almost fitting for Bullet For My Valentine's latest outing "The Poison". An album built around sappy lyrics, glossy production and Swede-influenced metalcore, the bands overachieving nature almost rots as many teeth as the riffs try to bust out.

Having already made a significant impact in the UK, it would seem that B4MV are now setting their sights on the North America market. It's too bad then for them that bands like Trivium and Atreyu pretty much already made this very album a year or two back. Still, for having a style that isn't all that unique, Bullet For My Valentine do put in some serious effort.

A ton of searing harmonies are mixed with chugging riffs, pounding double kick drums and veins of subtle instrumental variation as gnarled screams lock horns with somewhat whiney melodic vocals. All the while the band kick up a highly focused slab of bleeding edge modern metalcore and even make a few veiled nods to some of Britain's metal greats in the process.

However, while proficient at their instruments, the songwriting showcased on this album feels so overly polished and predictable that there is no room for real emotion or expression to breathe, let alone flourish. Everything here feels locked in and predetermined right down to what color of pick the guitarist used. Thus, while explosive at times and overall an entertaining listen, little here stays with the listener once the stop button is pressed. In turn this 'poison' may be fatal to the Myspace generation, but most people were immunized against it years ago.