Bullet - Full Pull (Nuclear Blast/Riot)

What do you say about Swedish bourbon n'dandruff purveyors Bullet that hasn’t been said before? Their new album, Full Pull, is much like their last album, Highway Pirates, if a little more rock and a little less metal (and lacking in Biff Byford's whistling skills), and it’ll doubtless be much like the next one too, if truth be told. Vocalist Hell Hofer still sounds like a guffawsome mix of Udo Dirkschneider and Brian Johnson, and the band still grind out that brainless AC/DC meets Accept neck-bothering schtick with not a hint of irony or admission that we’re not in 1981 anymore...

They have their moments of course. Rolling Home sticks out if only because it’s slightly more restrained and has some classy keyboard embellishments to ease it’s passage, whilst at the other end of the spectrum High on the Hog is as agreeably silly as it gets, Hofer’s gravel rasp augmented on the gang vocal chorus seemingly provided by several drunks who were probably just passing the studios when the track was being recorded and decided to help out with pleasing results. 

Rush Hour  and Gutterview feature some pleasing axework whilst closing track Warriors also stands out as a little more ambitious then the band’s usual efforts; and of course you’d rather hear this on the radio than O** D********, whilst any band featuring the guitar talents of a man called Hampus Klang must surely always be welcome where men gather to drink heavily and compare denim cutoffs – it’s just all a little too simplistic and a little too heard-it-all-before to get truly worked up about what’s on offer from Full Pull. If you’re easily pleased, invest away, otherwise there’s plenty more out there to pique the interest of your wallet. Nice but not essential.