Bullet For My Valentine recently checked in with the following update:

"We are thrilled to announce that in 2025 we present to you The Poisoned Ascendancy UK Tour, alongside our brothers in Trivium. Both bands will be celebrating the 20th anniversary of their debut albums by playing them in full. Get excited people, it's gonna be special and we can't wait to celebrate with you all."

Trivium, meanwhile, posted the following message:

"Bullet for My Valentine’s The Poison and Trivium’s Ascendancy are two records whose influence can be heard to this day - in the DNA of modern metal. It’s incredible to think of the impact the albums had when they came out in 2005. They were both like bolts of lightning. Both bands grew up independently of each other in different countries and separately from any movement or scene but both shared a common love of melodic heavy metal at the core; and both had similar meteoric rises right out of the gate. Trivium and BFMV were in such whirlwinds when our respective albums came out that we each never truly got to play together or sit back and celebrate during the maelstrom of constant touring, recording and globetrotting. But that’s what this anniversary tour is. It’s a celebration by the bands to the fans of an important era, and most importantly it’s an invitation to fans come and have an epic night with us and sing and rage and celebrate the awesome power of the music."

Metal Hammer caught up with Bullet For My Valentine frontman Matt Tuck and Trivium vocalist / guitarist Matt Heafy to discuss their respectived bands' rise to fame and the upcoming tour. Following is an excerpt from the chat.

Metal Hammer: You both broke through in 2005, a period when metal was in transition. Nu metal had bitten the dust and bands like Killswitch Engage and Lamb Of God were leading a metal renaissance. What are your memories of the scene at that time? 

Tuck: “It was undeniably a period of time where both our bands started something that was important. We were breaking away from a trend and a mould, bringing back a certain style and aggression, a technicality. We were representing Britain, and Trivium were representing the US.” 

Heafy: “It was an interesting time. Guitar solos were gone when I was in high school, and nu metal was in. Growing up in central Florida, pop-punk was the only style that was really around.” 

Tuck: “It was an amazing time for both our bands. That whole period where it was young, fresh and new, people were discovering us, and we were trying to stamp our sound into the metal community. I can’t emphasise how much we enjoyed it and how hungry we were.” 

Heafy: “The New Wave Of American Heavy Metal scene was growing with bands like Lamb Of God, Shadows Fall, Unearth and Killswitch Engage all coming out of roughly the same area, at the same time. But it was always Bullet and Trivium floating. And that’s why I always felt this kinship.”

Metal Hammer: So, there was never any kind of rivalry between your bands? 

Tuck: “No!” 

Heafy: “We’ve always just lived on these two separate planets. Acknowledging each other and being fans of each other’s music, but never connecting the dots. We could have done this tour at 10 years, could have done it at 15, could have done it at five. We’ve been asking each other, ‘Why haven’t we toured together?’ And there wasn’t a reason, we just didn’t.” 

Metal Hammer: How did the idea come about for the joint 20-year anniversary tour and playing both albums in full? 

Tuck: “It was around October last year. Me and the boys wanted to do something for The Poison and it just clicked. Let’s see if Trivium want to jump onboard here and do something together, split everything down the middle, no bullshit, co-headline, Ascendancy and The Poison.” 

Heafy: “I remember we had a text from our manager. He’s like, ‘Hey, the Bullet camp just put over the idea of Trivium and Bullet doing a tour together in 2025…” 

Tuck: “I think a Bullet and Trivium tour is something that most fans of that era would want to see. It’s taken us 20 years to get there, but instead of just a normal tour, we’re bringing something special. I think people are going to flip when they find out what’s going on.”

Read the complete interview here.

Bullet For My Valentine wrapped up their North American tour on November 10th, 2023 at Hard Rock Live in Orlando, Florida. They were joined by Trivium frontman Matt Heafy for "Tears Don't Fall", bringing the house down two songs into their first encore. Check out the fan-filmed video below.