EP Review - Bite The Bullet- 'Bite The Bullet'

Location: Copenhagen, Denmark

Label:Bi-Location Records

Maybe it's a happy by-product of the digital age, where works of art that have been slaved over and hewn from the literal blood sweat and tears of their creators can be easily downloaded, chewed up and spat out by  cretinous Justin Bieber fans, but it seems more and more bands in the stoner/doom/psyche  underground are seeking to claw their way back to simpler, more analogous times, a time of Beat Club and bad hair dos,where tape and wax reigned supreme.Some bands of course pull this off better than others; for every Graveyard or Electric Taurus making great, authentic seventies tinged rock, there's ten dipshits in TopShop flares murdering the ghost of Mountain with their vicious caterwauling.Anyone remember Wolfmother?

Exactly.

Happily, Denmark's Bite The Bullet fall into the former camp, and on this self titled debut EP, one can hear an obvious affection for all things vintage, warm and fuzzy.A heady blend of styles , ranging from driving power pop to dramatic, fuzzed out rock freakouts, Bite The Bullet  is a delight.Opener 'I Feel Love'  is a stormer , a killer soul vocal welded to walls of Muff-bitten bass and reverb drenched piano.'Hit The Ground' is somewhere between a more laid back MC5 and the eclectic genius of garage rock icon Bobby Conn, while ' Space Drums' hints at the bellicose magic of prime The Doors.The production throughout is authentically rough and ready, this is no cheap nostalgia trip, and one can buzz off the fumes of burning amps and hot tape throughout.

Things get a little weirder on closer 'My Soul', a spacy psyche pop number with some wonderfully skewed vocals and over saturated guitar work that just begs to be played at full volume from an open top Cadillac while smoking some quality green and your lawyer in the side seat, advising you to take another hit because Las Vegas is just around the corner.Truly awesome stuff, and a band you'll surely be hearing more of.

Rating:8.5/10

For fans of: Graveyard, Mountain, Deep Purple, The Doors

Listen to them here:http://bitethebulletmusic.com/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/BiteTheBulletRocks

Stephen

Album Review - Heavy Glow-'Midnight Moan'

We 're a bit late in reviewing this one it seems, seeing as Heavy Glow released this album as far back as the middle of last year,but hey , better late than ever, and in the case of this sublime, hard rocking trio, that is most definitely the case, seeing as it's probably one of the best and most satisfying examples of pure , old fashioned hard rock we've heard around these parts for quite some time.

Already a favourite of the respectable mainstream media(Classic Rock have included the band on a previous compilation) , Heavy Glow's sound is a mix of the warm, bluesy swagger of The Black Keys, the sweaty , primal stomp of Wooly Mammoth and Truckfighters, and even, in places, the grandiose stomp of Led Zeppelin in their prime. First track 'Lose My Mind' is all come hither guitar pomp and fantastically loose , raw blue leads.'Slave Dance' is a slow burning blues number with some remarkable guitar work from frontman Jared Mullins, while 'All My Money' is so irresistibly catchy and toe tappingly infectious, it's liable to be included on some third world country's banned materials list sometime soon . .

Throughout, the production is fantastically old school , and authentically raw, without being so self consciously retro it becomes a gimmick.Indeed, the band skirt the usual classic rock cliches by simply writing fantastic songs, whether it be the desert rock gut punch of 'Collide' , or the closing , epic throwdown 'Diggin A Ditch' , the band keep the emphasis on groove and maintaining the summery , breezy, couldn't give a fuck vibe that permeats the album.However, as with anything this effortlessly good,there's clear effort on the part of the band, and it's refreshing to hear a modern day heavy rock band that lets their instrumentation breathe, and doesn't simply rely on lashing on the distortion to compensate for lazy songwriting.Nor is this any kind of dad rock throwback.Indeed, when the band want to, they can rock like motherfuckers.This is music to get drunk to, get high to, get you laid.Summer can't come quick enough . . .

Rating:8/10

For fans of: The Black Keys, QOTSA, Wooly Mammoth, Chocolate Love Factory

Listen here:http://www.facebook.com/heavyglowband?sk=app_2405167945

Band Site: http://www.heavyglowmusic.com/

Album Review - I Decline ' Time To Shine' ( Horns Raised Records)

Much as we love our underground metal that's been recorded on a karaoke mic for 2 euro and sounds like a serious mushroom binge gone wrong and the aftermath being caught on tape, and is wrapped in a black metaller's funeral shroud , it's nice to hear a band who aren't afraid to go  balls out on their release, and create a release that has clearly no reservations about aiming for the mainstream, and this is clearly the case for Chicago metallers I Decline.It may also be one of the most  surprisingly  excellent   underground rock releases of the year.

The first thing that you might notice when you pop this CD into your drive/stereo/car if you're luckier and richer than me, is the production.It's , and not to put too light of a spin on it, fucking MASSIVE.Guitars roar around, drums thump you in gut and bass tickles your nether regions, and , to be quite frank, it puts a fair majority of certain mainstream metal/rock releases out this year to shame in this respect.This , my friends, is what Phil Spector was going for  when he forged his  legendary 'wall of sound'.

But of course, as Simon Cowell and his dick sucking minions won't tell you is that whopper production does not a good record make, and so it's a good thing that 'Time To Shine' is packed to the gills with big hearted, bombastic and at times unashamedly OTT rock anthems.The band's sound is a slightly bizarre blend of  tar thick stoner rock riffing, old school heavy metal lead work and fists aloft, stadium swagger, mostly contained in the lung bursting vocal pairing of main vocalist Dustin Hamish, and bassist/vocalist Patrick Mc Laughlin. It's the sort of rock album that bands like The Darkness and Avenged Sevenfold would give their collective left testicles to make ,putting in mind influences from everything from the dark glam rumblings of WASP and Skid Row to Mob Rules-era Sabbath to  Thin Lizzy at their heaviest(  fans of'Thunder and Lightning' era Lizzy won't be disappointed).

Opener 'Time To Shine' sets out the band's stall pretty fucking quickly, exploding out of the traps with kick drums ablaze and rousing gang vocals that you can guarantee sets pits ablaze when the band play it live.'The Administration' is all Lizzy-esque harmonies and chest pounding rabble rousing, while  'A New Nation' drips in the kind of sleaze that Velvet Revolver did so well intermittently on their debut album.

'Grand Ruin' is another highlight, a mid paced stomper that recalls , and this is only ever a compliment , Judas Priest's 'Touch Of Evil', while 'Your Name In Blood'  swings around a riff that Iommi would surely gladly shed a tear for  and claim as his own bastard child.In truth , with the exception of the slightly bland  'Her Darkness' , and the ballad 'Jericho', which does little else than  highlight  the band's admittedly solid musicianship but sounds slightly out of place on such a gleefully balls out record, there is not a song on here which could be described as less than quality.Closer 'Rejoice Lament' ends the album on high note, blitzing the listener with Maiden- esque galloping twin guitar riffery and blasts of guitar noise, and is sure to leave the listener a sweaty , grinning mess at it's climax.

To be honest, this album won't be for everyone.It is , at it's heart, an album with one eye firmly on the mainstream, and a sound and songwriting style which reflect this, which may alienate some regular visitors to this blog.But to be honest, when an album is this addictive, well made, and well,fun(and let's be honest, at the end of the day , that is something we need in these gloomy times) , it's hard to not get behind it.And for this reviewer, it's been a reminder of the glorious joy of sometimes just rocking the fuck out.Nude.With the curtains open.Sober.I for one hope they get fucking massive.

Rating : 9/10

For fans of: Thin Lizzy, Judas Priest, Red Fang ,Skid Row

Listen Here:

http://www.i-decline.com

Stephen O ' Connor

bornagainnihilist@gmail.com