I BIT THE BULLET
In my continuing quest to discover new (and new to me) bands and music, I often scour the net reading reviews on websites. Ahhhh, the internet is a wonderful place for a lone Canadian metalhead like me….lol. Low and behold the Swedish band Bullet became targeted in my cross hairs.
This Swedish quintet consists of Dag Hell Hofer on raspy Bon Scott/Udo style vocals, Hampus Klang and Erik Almstrom on wailing dual guitars, Gustav Hjortsjo beating the skins and Adam Hector’s thundering bass guitar. They formed in the small Swedish town of Vaxjo in 1996 and after a couple of different monikers and break-ups, they released their demo themselves, Heavy Metal Highway in 2002. On their Facebook page, they cite influences of #1-wild women, #2-heavy metal, #3-loud guitar, #4-beer, #5-Tyrolen, #6-Bon Scott, #7-Motorcycles………now that’s the embodiment of rock and roll if I only knew what Tyrolen was!.
Their 2006 release proclaimed that they were Heading for the Top and I’m not quite sure why they’re not there yet!! The CD opens with “Midnight Riders” powering right through into “Turn it up Loud”, the raspy Bon Scott era AC/DC sound and vocals will have your toe tapping for sure. Other stand-out tracks on the disc include “Hard Luck Lady”, “Speeding in the Night”, “Rock Steady”, “Leather Love”…..OK, the whole thing is great, no ballads here! While not an official video, an obvious fan has posted some Bullet tunes on Youtube. Here’s the link for “Midnight Riders”..
Well if you’re Heading for the Top in 2006, the logical next step is to Bite the Bullet in 2008. And why not Bite the Bullet if you’re placing third in your country’s album charts? “Pay the Price” leads the charge of this second CD and sounds just like a continuation of the last album, but that’s a good thing. Slamming through the up-tempo “Roadking”, the title track is up next with a gang vocal chorus that had me air drumming with a couple of pencils! I don’t know what I’m doing there, so basically waving my hands in the air and banging my head…lol. “Paint the town red and lose your head” in the official video for “Dusk Till Dawn”. Once again no ballads creep into this onslaught of adrenaline driven songs. Probably the best on the disc is “The Rebel’s Return”, clocking in at five and a half minutes, in the close out position of the record..
Once again pushing forward there’s a high risk of running into some Highway Pirates in 2011. This time charting outside of their home turf in the German album charts at #69. The opening track of the album title is one of the stand-outs and features the trademark whistle of age long Saxon frontman Bif Byford. This record follows the same formula and is loaded with 80’s metal sounding tracks with strong catchy hooks while showing the development in songwriting from the hard rockin’ Swedes. Here’s the official video for “Stay Wild”. Put this album on and follow this simple formula for success….spin, crank, bang head, repeat!.
Their latest album is scheduled for release on September 14 in Europe and September 25 in North America and is eagerly awaited in my household! This is the fourth CD and the first on newly acquired major label contract with Nuclear Blast. Full Pull is the first time that outside producers were consulted and the first single of the same name is available here: “Full Pull”..
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