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For the third year running Welsh rockers Bullet For My Valentine have been named best British group at the Kerrang! awards.

The four-piece band - made up of Matthew Tuck, Michael Paget, Jason James and Michael Thomas - formed in 1998.

Originally named Jeff Killed John, they started out playing covers and eventually signed a record deal with Sony BMG in 2002.

Three years later their debut album was released.

The Poison went to number 21 in the UK Top 40 charts and reached 128 in the US Billboard charts.

The group have only released five singles, including hits such as 4 Words (To Choke Upon), Suffocating Under Words Of Sorrow and All These Things I Hate.

However, to date they have failed to make it into the top 20 of the singles charts in the UK, but their success has gradually grown in the US.

Their second studio album, Scream Aim Fire, went to number four, followed by Fever at number three, and in the UK both albums went to number five.

, frontman Matt Tuck said: "We wanted to do something fresh and exciting but that was still us."

He revealed that they rewrote lyrics and melodies up to five times for some of the songs because they "didn't think they were strong enough".

Critics have described the sound of the group as metalcore or thrash metal.

The band themselves cite Metallica and Iron Maiden as their musical influences.

The band have now set their sets on world domination.

"We've always been a decent live band, but now we want to become a world class rock act," Tuck told Metal Hammer.

Although, commercially their music is not widely played on mainstream radio, they are huge within their genre, scooping the Golden God trophy at the Metal Hammers awards twice.

They were also named best newcomers at the Kerrang! awards in 2005, and their single Tears Don't Fall was named best single a year later.

Last year the band toured across the US as part of the Mayhem Festival, alongside Killswitch Engage, Slayer and Marilyn Manson.

They have also headlined this year's Download Festival on the Friday night and played at the Nova Rock festival, Metaltown and the Bilbao Live Festival.

Starting in December the quartet will embark on their first UK arena tour, with dates in Birmingham, Manchester and London.