Bulldozing Bastard do exact what their name would suggest, that being kicking your doors in, stinking you out with B.O., stale beer and fags, incessantly whipping their lank hair in your face, leaving you covered in sputum after generally rocking shit up. What more can you ask for when it’s done via the aural equivalent of first wave black metal, rock and roll, NWOBHM and speed metal all amalgamated into one giant leather clad, Harley riding, shit kicker of an album? ‘Under The Ram’ is the bands 2nd full length release, and for all its similarities to stuff you’ve heard before – you can’t help but smile and snap that neck.
The main influences are clearly Italian legends Bulldozer (as you may guess by the band’s name), which means mighty slabs of Motörhead and Venom, but with a heavy dose of the likes of Tank in regularly melody packed solos, and even ‘Kill ‘em All’ era Metallica in a lot of the more manic riffage. ‘Queen of the Night’ opens the album, coming on strong in full Venom & Motörhead mode, with raspy vocals and clearly audible bass twanging away behind the rocking guitars, it really is a ‘Philthy’ animal of a track. ‘Full Speed Ahead’ is one of the highlights of the album for me, continuing the bands rocking vibe, but throwing in some top notch melodic soloing to add the icing to the cake. ‘Under The Ram’ the track reminds me of early Metallica, with a similar vibe to ‘Hit the Lights’, albeit in their own Bulldozing Bastard style, with plenty of flailing limbs and rattling teeth. ‘Alleys of the Underground’ has a fairly different approach in terms of the song structure, pulling out some of their most NWOBHM inspired licks and flourishes whilst still keeping the whisky and piss soaked burn of their overall musical approach.
Album closer ‘Once The Dust Has Settled’ has very Iron Maiden-esque feel to it musically, mixed in with some good ol’ fashioned rock n roll to give a monster farewell payoff. Bulldozing Bastard know how to rock shit up, pay homage to their influences unashamedly without just sounding like a third-rate rip off. They’ve plenty of ideas, plenty of balls and enough gusto to warrant interest from fans of any of the aforementioned bands. Give ‘em a shot!
(7.5/10 Lars Christiansen)
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