BULLET – Highway Pirates

During the last decade, Swedish Metal has become the backbone of the worldwide Metal scene. After securing a strong position in the worldly Death Metal scene in the 90s and taking care of the re-innovation of NWOBHM, how about some Hard Rock N’ Roll?

Bullet has been cruising Rock N’ Roll for almost ten years. Maybe after AC/DC’s demise somewhere in the far future, people will look up to Bullet as a comforting answer, because these guys have got the guts, the style, and the sound. Since 2001, these guys released three albums, including their new engine entitled Highway Pirates. While AC/DC is needled in their blood, these guys created a hell of a Hard Rockin’ Heavy Metal sound added to by their own free spirit. While tuning in to their music, all you have to do is to buy yourself a Harley Davidson, put the pedal to the metal, and speed away into the night.

In comparison to the band’s other albums (Heading For The Top and Bite The Bullet), there aren’t too many differences to be found. Bullet uses, even sometimes mimics, the likes of AC/DC while adding melodies a la Iron Maiden & Judas Priest, and it works rather well for them. The material is pretty much basic when it comes to rhythms; however, their lead guitar melodies display a varied array of licks taken from the 70s and 80s, which are very cool and a great listen.

Even though the rating of Bullet will probably never change because they are easy and catchy in their music, they should find a way to put their own mark on their material. On Highway Pirates, and their other albums, Bullet tells the same AC/DC story and it doesn’t seem that they will let it go in the future. There are fine tunes here such as “Highway Pirates”, “Heavy Metal Dynamite”, “Into The Night” and “Blood Run Hot”, yet, the others, and even these chosen ones, have a lack of originality.

Generally, Highway Pirates has what it takes to be a good Hard Rock/Heavy Metal album as it has class and Bullet are a nice bunch of guys to do the work. Nonetheless, with their obvious talent and abilities, originality should be taken to account… and the sooner the better. Bullet’s current effort to upgrade their tunes is well noted, but let’s hope that with their catchy style, some new markings will eventually surface at the party.

Tracklist

1. Highway Pirates
2. Back On The Road
3. Stay Wild
4. Blood Run Hot
5. Fire And Dynamite
6. Down And Out
7. Knuckleduster
8. Heavy Metal Dynamite
9. Citylights
10. Into The Night

Lineup

Dag Hell Hofer – Vocals
Hampus Klang – Guitar
Erik Almström – Guitar
Adam Hector – Bass
Gustav Hjortsjö – Drums