Live Music Review: Bullet For My Valentine & Trivium in Manchester
The most important metal tour of 2025 arrived in Manchester towards the end of January By year’s end, it might even stand as the most significant. The Poisoned Ascendancy Tour isn’t just a masterstroke in naming—it marks a pivotal moment in metal history, bringing together two era-defining albums that shaped the genre’s trajectory over the last two decades. Author - Amy W Venue - Co-Op Live On one side, there’s Trivium, the torchbearers of a new wave of American metal that spawned countless successors—many of whom still cite them as an enduring influence. On the other, Bullet For My Valentine, the band once heralded as Britain’s biggest metal export since Iron Maiden. It’s a dream pairing for anyone who lived through that golden era of mid-2000s metal. What makes this tour all the more special is how remarkably well The Poison and Ascendancy hold up, even two decades later. Which album reigns supreme? That depends on who you ask. Nostalgia plays its part—this writer will admit ...