Bullet
Highway pirates
Black Lodge
Up until now, Sweden's answer to AC/DC have been just that -- a Scandinavian version of Angus Young and co. that at times sounded more like the Aussie quintet than they did themselves. Bullet did it with such class, however, that there were rarely cries of 'rip-off'; rather, the majority of people who found their way to the band raved about their similarities in a positive light. Three albums in and we still have that unquestionable 'DC style, but "Highway pirates" shows that the band have this time found a voice more unique to themselves. There's more of a hair metal vibe on here, particularly in the guitar leads and the sung-in-unison chorus parts and this, in itself, marks an essential development in the band's output. Let's face it, "Bite the bullet" and "Heading for the top" were killer releases in their own right, but one more AC/DC-meets-Accept overloaded album may well have found Bullet fall on the wrong side of favour. Songs such as "Fire and dynamite" and "Down and out" display the classic Bullet style and waver little from that formula, while others -- the title track and "Knuckleduster" as prime examples -- show Bullet at their hard rockin' best. More of this and they'll be unstoppable.
- John Norby
