At last weekend’s Download festival at Leicestershire, United Kingdom’s Donington Park, guitarist Michael “Padge” Paget of Welsh metallers BULLET FOR MY VALENTINE spoke to Neil Jones of TotalRock about the band’s decision to cut its “The Poisoned Ascendancy” tour with TRIVIUM short in order to focus on making a new album. He said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): “Yeah, unfortunately, there’s just not enough time. We started writing the [new BULLET FOR MY VALENTINE] album back last year, demos and stuff, which is going really, really well. To finish writing now and record by the end of the year, due to us touring what we’ve done so far, and then this summer run, to continue writing and finish up all the demos, then record in the studio, then process it to get new music and the album out by next year, we just don’t have time. And time seems to be going so fast, so we just had to make our decision to focus on one thing or the other. And the album came first. So we chose the album, and we’re gonna get stuck into that now after this festival run in June. We’ll have a few weeks off to chill, and then we get straight back in the studio and then hopefully get it all recorded up by Christmas, and hopefully there’ll be new music out early next year and the album in the summer sometime.”Regarding the musical direction of the new BULLET FOR MY VALENTINE material, Paget said: “It’s gonna be super heavy. We mess around with some crazy tuning on this one, something we haven’t done before. So it’s gonna be really interesting and fresh for the fans — and us. I think [we have a song in] drop G [tuning]. But, yeah, all of the usual BULLET trademarks are there. It’s in our DNA, so hooks, the vocal melodies, the huge choruses, big guitars, all the standard stuff’s gonna be there, but definitely different to what we’ve ever done before.”Michael went on to say that he and his BULLET FOR MY VALENTINE bandmates want to break some new ground on their upcoming eighth album. “We’ve always said we never wanna make the same album twice,” he explained. “One, I think it’s cop-out because we’ve already done it. We’ll never do what ‘The Poison’ did for a debut album. And we like to keep it fresh for ourselves and challenge ourselves, make it interesting for the fans.”Music changes over time, and there’s classic metal, there’s metalcore, there’s modern metal, there’s contemporary metal, this new wave of modern metal as well now coming out,” he added. “So we’ve gotta keep up with the curve and do our thing, but our way. So, so it’s gonna be interesting, but I think people are really gonna love it. It’s gonna be awesome.”Asked if BULLET FOR MY VALENTINE has studio time booked for the upcoming eighth LP, Paget said: “Not yet, but it’s all in the works.” As for who will produce the effort, the guitarist, “[We] pretty much [have someone picked out]. But there’s conversations happening all the time. We wanna make this one a banger, as we do with all of them. But we really wanna throw some thought behind it and make it as big as we possibly can.”Also at this year’s Download, BULLET FOR MY VALENTINE frontman Matt Tuck, whose band has spent the first half of 2025 celebrating the 20th anniversary of its debut album, “The Poison”, on tours of Europe and North America, spoke to James Wilson-Taylor of Rock Sound about BULLET FOR MY VALENTINE’s plans for the group’s eighth album, tentatively due in 2026. Matt said: “We haven’t had a lot of opportunity to get back and focus on it, ’cause since I [last] saw you, we just haven’t stopped playing. It’s been really intense, but a good intense.”He continued: “There’s a lot of love around the world for the band, and we’re just trying to kind of make the most of this opportunity, ’cause once [the 20th-anniversary celebration of ‘The Poison’] is done, it’s done forever. We’re not gonna do it again. We’re not gonna milk 25, 30, none of that shit.”But, yeah, I listened to [the new ideas we have come up with so far] a lot when we were [touring] in the States [earlier this year], and, yeah, when I hear it, it still gives me the vibes,” Tuck added. “And I think the beginning of August, we’re gonna hit the studio for real. And we’ll be there until it’s done.”Released in 2005, “The Poison” propelled BULLET FOR MY VALENTINE to unimaginable heights. That year saw the Welsh metallers graduate from supporting FUNERAL FOR A FRIEND on their U.K. run in the summer, to ending the year headlining the very same venues just months later. Dropping in October 2005, “The Poison” hit number 21 in the U.K. album charts, becoming a late contender in end of year polls, placing at number seven on Kerrang!’s “Albums Of The Year” list, and since achieving gold status.BULLET FOR MY VALENTINE and TRIVIUM were on the road together earlier this year to celebrate the joint 20th anniversaries of their respective albums “The Poison” and “Ascendancy”.Last month, TRIVIUM revealed that plans were scrapped to have the two bands hit other territories around the world as part of “The Poisoned Ascendancy” tour. Details surrounding the cancelations were unclear, although TRIVIUM bassist Paolo Gregoletto said in a livestream that Tuck had pulled out of the tour early as he “didn’t wanna do it.” Gregoletto also claimed that Tuck made the move because he is “the sole decision maker of [BULLET FOR MY VALENTINE] and he has no respect for us or our crew.”The members of BULLET FOR MY VALENTINE later shared a statement on social media saying that they were “grateful” to the fans who wanted to see them live but explained that they had decided to focus their efforts on making a new album instead.”We’re incredibly grateful to have been given the chance to look back at a pair of life-changing albums for us & TRIVIUM, who we have nothing but respect and admiration for,” they said. “With that being said, the four of us collectively feel that the time is right for us to divert our full attention towards the next chapter of BULLET FOR MY VALENTINE.”They added: “We can’t wait to get back in the studio later this summer and finish what we promise you is our best album to date. To go along with this, we are already starting to make plans for the 2026 & 2027 touring cycles, hitting every corner. We are super excited to drop new music for you all. We value our fans above all else and are forever grateful for your support. We’ll be back with all of you very soon.”BULLET FOR MY VALENTINE released the deluxe version of its latest, self-titled album in August 2022 via Spinefarm/Search & Destroy. This extended release featured four brand new tracks, plus “Stitches”, a song previously only available as a Japanese exclusive. Following the CD and digital releases, a vinyl pressing launched in November 2022.[embedded content]