By Jason Wellwood
I try to stay away from comparisons when writing reviews, but some bands are impossible to review without mentioning others. If I didn’t mention AC/DC somewhere in my review, it would probably be very short, and perhaps even a little inaccurate. Four albums in, Bullet are still giving us hard driving, groove oriented, 4/4 time rock n’ roll, and there is nothing wrong with that! Bullet’s rhythm section are still working on getting that tight boogie woogie groove down pat, but they manage to lock in tight and keep things grooving well on Full Pull, most notably on the tracks ‘Full Pull’ and ‘Rolling Home’. Song writing wise, Bullet have stepped things up a little bit more, the songs on Full Pull are catchier and the guitar work is a little more interesting and varied than previous outings. ‘Running Away’ leans towards being a wistful ballad, with guitar phrasing that actually conjures up images of Richards/Wood as well as Young/Young. It’s obvious that the band knows its rock history, and puts it to good use. Lyrically, the band also steers clear of the obvious double entendre blunders of latter day AC/DC, keeping things straight forward with just a little cheek now and again. They don’t, however, stray too far from the parameters laid out on Highway Pirates, except for a little bit of piano here and there this is no bones hard rock. The biggest issue for most listeners will be the vocals of Hell Hofer as some new folks may be turned off by his Johnson meets Dirkschneider wail. Admittedly, I found him to be a little garbled sounding, as if he was singing with some extra marbles in his mouth, during ‘Midnight Oil’ but as the album progresses, his vocals become clearer, meaner and maybe just a touch evil.
Overall, Full Pull is a terrific outing for Bullet and their first for Nuclear Blast. While the album contains little in the way of surprises, the songs are strong and catchy with great sing along choruses. Sometimes, that’s all you really need in a record.
(Nuclear Blast)
