FUCK IT!!!!!!! My neighbours have just decided to start hacking the render off the outside of their house using a jackhammer, so I think the only sane and rational thing for me to do is crank the all new double live LP from Swedish Heavy Metallers Bullet up to 11 and give them some payback.

It’s actually been 9 years since I first encountered the live tour de force that is Bullet blowing headliners Hardcore Superstar into outer space with a brand of Heavy Metal very much steeped in the tradition of bands like Saxon, Krokus and perhaps most closely Accept.  Bullet are a band who play balls to the wall Metal complete with flying V guitars, studded wrist gauntlets, and stretch black jeans so tight they split on stage, something that did actually happen to guitarist Hampus Klang (and what a name for a six-string slinger that is) the night I saw them.

Recorded across three shows on the band’s 2017 Storm of Blades tour and their 2018 Dust To Gold tour the eighteen tracks contained here capture the ferocity and energy of Bullet live whilst retaining a clarity that is often lost with a lot of modern Metal bands. Granted vocalist Hell Hofer has one of those Marmite voices that is part Udo Storace and part Davros but anthemic tunes such as ‘Riding High’, ‘Speed And Attack’, the extended ‘Highway Love’ and set closer ‘Bite The Bullet’ transcend any vocal elitism you might still be harbouring and will soon have you chanting along with your fist pumping high in the air.

Remember the halcyon days when live albums were “must buys” and contained all killer and no filler? Well, Bullet has managed to capture the soul of ‘Live and Dangerous’, the intensity of ‘If You Want Blood’ and the solidarity of ‘The Eagle Has Landed’ to deliver possibly the best live Metal album you will hear anywhere this year. In fact, it’s so live that I can almost smell the dry ice and feel the heat of the pyro as the band explode into opener ‘Storm Of Blades’.

The PR blurb that accompanies ‘Live’ has Klang proudly declaring that the double live album contains eighteen all original songs and no covers (and so he should), what he also should have said is each and every one of these tunes is guaranteed to give the listener headbangers neck, such is the infectious nature of this feelgood record….oh and there’s no fucking ballads either.

Released on July 5^th as a 2 CD digipak and gatefold 180gms double LP pressed on black vinyl that also contains a poster and the 2 CDs in paper sleeves, it sounds to me like the latter is the one all true Bulletheads will be looking out for.

So ‘Turn It Up Loud’ brothers and sisters, because Bullet ‘Live’ officially drowns out jackhammers and I am the living proof to that fact.

Buy Bullet ‘Live’ Here

Author: Johnny Hayward