Bullet. Is it really album number four? Their no frills heavy metal charm, all leather beer and armpit swear, has been entertaining the hell out of me since Heading To The Top so I was really pleased to get this (all down to the generosity of another of the writers; cheers Paul). If you don’t know them, they breathe a brand of heavy metal that is AC/DC with chrome balls and the drive of Accept with a sprinkling of hard rock, vocalist Dag Hell Hofer looks and sounds like a genetic experiment with Bon Scott and Udo Dirkschneider and they all know what leather and studs are for. Lyrically they are in a world of booze, women and cars that (with the exception of the sexist drivel of the title track on the Bite The Bullet album) is heavy metal high energy fantasy Friday night fun.

So has their signing to Nuclear Blast had any effect on their core sound? Well if you take the lead off song ‘Midnight Oil’ you’d have to say no. Its a traditional slow burner opener full of the embers of AC/DC and slowly cranking up the gears until the title track bursts out and flattens you like Saxons Swedish cousins. Excellent start.

And then they get their maracas out for ‘Running Home’. And that is not a euphemism. Maracas and hard rock hand claps and a chorus Kiss probably binned in the eighties. Light, Poppy and rather rubbish to my ears. They keep their maraccas out for ‘All Fired Up’ which is once more closer to hard rock than heavy metal but, thankfully, its a big bouncing joyous song. See? It can be done right.

Stomping through ‘Rolling Home’ I suddenly realise this is actually a bit…. Cinderella. No really. Now don’t panic if all you know of that band is photos from their debut album; they always were a far harder bluesy band than most gave them credit for. Yeah, this is kinda Long Cold Winter period without the ballads. Though there is a piano with an eerily familiar melody somewhere hereabouts. ‘In The Heat’ is a good old blues based boogie stomp, but that Cinderella feeling remains in the excellent chorus and classy lead breaks. There’s no use in me denying I am a little non-plussed. It all needs a little processing, but ‘High On The Hog’ sounds like a lost eighties classic and offers little respite but frankly with a song that good I cease to care.

I did actually go back to their earlier works and for me at least there really has been a slight shift of the balance towards hard rock here. It’s not necessarily a bad thing either when you can produce songs like the great rolling, pumped up boogie of ‘Gutterview’ and with the exception of that ‘Running Home’ misstep and a couple of average fillers it works very well and still has Bullet’s charm fully intact.

Last song ‘Warriors’ is seemingly about the classic film, a very metal subject if there ever was one and is treated  to a fine, brooding song that closes things in fine style. And anyone who likes The Warriors enough to write a sing about it is OK in my book…

It takes me a few spins to adjust to the slight repointing in style here but thats all good in the end. Not quite always to the lofty songwriting standard of songs like ‘Road King’ from Bite The Bullet and they only have two gears; mid pace and full tilt, but it is a good step on from the classy Highway Pirates and if you don’t mind hard rock sympathy in your (still pretty bruising) metal then you need to get in there path of this Bullet sharpish.

(7.5/10 Gizmo)

 http://www.bullet.nu